Antisense oligonucleotides have been considered as inhibitors of growth of intracellular parasites such as Leishmania, but only limited inhibition has been observed in vitro. We have encapsulated an antisense oligonucleotide, complementary to the Leishmania universal miniexon sequence, in cationic liposomes. Low concentrations (4 microM) of encapsulated oligonucleotides specifically reduced the...

The Indian medicinal herb Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Linn. (NAT) is well-known. It often referred to as "Parijat" and a critically endangered species in India. Crude extracts refined chemicals from seeds, such 4-hydroxy-hexahydrobenzofuran-7-one, 6-hydroxyloganin, Arbortristoside A, polysaccharide the leaves, Naringenin stem, may all be sources of active pharmacological agents. In Ayurveda, plant...

Background: Hydatidosis is a common disease of both humans and animals, resulting from infection with the larvae of Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm. The aim of this study was to investigate the antiparasitic (protoscolicidal) activities of three essential oils in vitro. Methods: This study was designed to evaluate the biochemical composition and in vitro antiparasitic effects of Zataria multi...

Leishmaniasis and Chagas are diseases caused by parasitic protozoans that affect the poorest population in the World, causing a high mortality and morbidity. As a result of highly toxic and long-term treatments, the discovery of novel, safe and more efficacious drugs is essential. In this work, the in vitro antiparasitic activity and mammalian cytotoxicity of three natural tirucallane triterpen...

The 28th Joint Conference of the Parasitic Diseases Panels of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program held in Baltimore, Maryland focused on current research within both countries on antiparasitic chemotherapy. This meeting report summarizes presentations of work in progress on antiparasitic drugs currently in use and drugs under development or in clinical trials, as well as reports...

The antileishmanial efficacy of four novel quinoline derivatives was determined in vitro against Leishmania chagasi, using extracellular and intracellular parasite models. When tested against L. chagasi-infected macrophages, compound 3b demonstrated 8.3-fold greater activity than did the standard pentavalent antimony. No significant activity was found for compounds 3a, 4a, and 4b. The antilesih...

Tetrahydrofuran lignans represent a well-known group of phenolic compounds capable of acting as antiparasitic agents. In the search for new medicines for the treatment of Chagas disease, one promising compound is grandisin which has shown significant activity on trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. In this work, the in vitro metabolism of grandisin was studied in the pig cecum model and b...

Investigation of the bioactive crude extract from the sponge Plakortis angulospiculatus from Brazil led to the isolation of plakortenone ( 1) as a new polyketide, along with five known polyketides ( 2- 6) previously isolated from other Plakortis sponges. The known polyketides were tested in antileishmanial, antitrypanosomal, antineuroinflammatory, and cytotoxicity assays. The results show that ...