Prospecção tecnológica e avaliação do potencial leishmanicida de extratos pirolenhosos

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is still one of the most neglected diseases in the world, affecting millions of people mainly in poor and underdeveloped countries. In Brazil, this parasitosis is classified as a public health problem with a limited therapeutic arsenal. Given this scenario, pyroligneous extracts have drawn the attention of many researchers, given that their processing can contribute to the development of chemical entities with pharmacological potential. This research aimed to carry out a technological survey on the therapeutic potential of these extracts and evaluate their cytotoxic and leishmanicidal action. In the technological prospecting exercise, searches were carried out for patents deposited on specialized platforms in the period 2012 – 2022. For the experimental study, seven extracts from plants typical of the Brazilian flora were used. The assays were carried out in macrophages of the J774.A1 lineage and in the evolutionary forms of promastigotes of the species Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania chagasi. The survey revealed the patenting of technologies that use the pyroligneous extract for therapeutic purposes. Pharmacological assays demonstrated leishmanicidal effects (100% ± 0.00) in the evaluated evolutionary forms. The Pennisetum purpureum extract (95.13% ± 0.09) showed the highest cytotoxic activity on macrophage cells. The extracts of Mimosa tenuiflora (IC50 - 0.01%) and Elaeis guineenses (IC50 - 0.03%) were the ones that showed the greatest potency on the species L. amazonensis and L. chagasi, respectively. The results obtained in the technological prospection associated with those presented in the pharmacological tests indicate that studies need to be implemented with the objective of evaluating the safety in the use of pyroligneous extracts for therapeutic purposes.