Bioprospecção de Anacardium occidentale como produto anti-Leishmania e cicatrizante

Abstract

The plant species Anacardium Occidentale known in Brazil as cashew tree represents a great economic, social and medical relevance. This study aims to perform the synthesis of the emulsion-type formulation with extract of flowers from A. occidentale L. and evaluates its cicatrizant effect (Chapter I); evaluates the leishmanicidal activity in vitro and in vivo from the extract and base formulation of the flowers from A. occidentale L. (Chapter II); develops and testes a biotech product with biological activity, based on the extract from the flowers of A. occidentale (Chapter III). After developing the biotechnological product, a formulation of emulsion-type based extract of A. occidentale flowers, physicochemical stability tests were performed. It was found, that the formulation showed more stability at room temperature showing no phase separation, loss of viscosity or any of its desirable characteristics throughout the study. In addition, it was shown that the formulation has important cicatrizing activity, possibly related to the IL-6 increase. Furthermore, in vitro antiLeishmania tests were performed using infected macrophages Raw and promastigotes of Leishmania amazonensis, and in vivo using BALB / c mice infected with this protozoan. The results show that the extract of A. occidentale flowers inhibits the growth of promastigotes of L. amazonensis, in vitro and in vivo, as it reduces the viability of promastigotes and infection in macrophages, and reduce the parasitic load of the infection in vivo, possibly by direct action of the extract on the protozoa. Isolated compounds present in plant species, on the other hand, do not exhibit Leishmanicidal effect against L. amazonensis promastigotes. In the same manner, the formulation emulsion-type containing A. occidentale extract has no Leishmanicidal effect while reducing the size of the lesion, when compared to treatment with standard drugs. In conjunction, the results indicate that Anacardium occidentale has pharmacological potential for mining products to be used in the treatment of leishmaniasis and scarring.