Anti-amoebic Activity of Leaf Extracts and Aporphine Alkaloids Obtained from Annona purpurea

César Díaz-Godínez, Julio C. Ontiveros-Rodríguez, Diana G. Ríos-Valencia, José Enrique Herbert-Pucheta, L. Gerardo Zepeda-Vallejo, Julio César Carrero

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13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Annona purpurea has been traditionally used by indigenous and socioeconomically disadvantaged people to treat infectious and parasitic diseases, including amoebiasis. The goal of this study was to assess the effect of a crude methanolic extract, an alkaloid extract, and aporphine alkaloids from leaves of A. purpurea on the viability of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoite cultures and to identify the mechanism of action. Different concentrations of the extracts and alkaloids purpureine (1), 3-hydroxyglaucine (2), norpurpureine (3) glaziovine (4), and oxopurpureine (5) were added to the cultures, and dead parasites were counted after 24 h using a tetrazolium dye reduction assay and analyzed by flow cytometry. The crude extract did not affect the viability of amoebae, but the alkaloid extract and the derived alkaloid glaziovine (4) had important anti-amoebic activity with an IC 50 of 33.5 μM compared to that shown by metronidazole (6.8 μM). The treatments induced significant morphological changes in the trophozoites, and most parasites killed by the alkaloid extract were positive for Annexin V, suggesting that apoptosis was the main mechanism of action. In contrast, glaziovine (4) induced less apoptosis with more amoebic lysis. This study supports the idea that aporphine alkaloids from A. purpurea, mainly (+)-(R)-glaziovine (4), could contribute to the development of new formulations for the treatment of amoebiasis. In addition, X-ray diffraction structural analysis and complete 1 H and 13 C NMR assignments of (+)-(R)-glaziovine (4) were performed and reported for the first time.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)425-433
Number of pages9
JournalPlanta Medica
Volume86
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2020

Keywords

  • Annona purpurea
  • Annonaceae
  • Entamoeba histolytica
  • anti-amoebic
  • aporphine alkaloids
  • glaziovine

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