Planta Med 1994; 60(1): 8-12
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-959397
Paper

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Antileishmanial Activity of a Tetralone Isolated from Ampelocera edentula, a Bolivian Plant Used as a Treatment for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

A. Fournet1 , A. Angelo Barrios2 , V. Muñoz2 , R. Hocquemiller3 , F. Roblot3 , A. Cavé3
  • 1Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération (ORSTOM), Département Santé, 213, rue La Fayette, F-75480 Paris, Cedex 10, France
  • 2Instituto Boliviano de Biologia de Altura (IBBA), CP 717, La Paz, Bolivia
  • 3Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie, associé au CNRS, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Paris XI, F-92296 Châtenay-Malabry, Cedex, France
Further Information

Publication History

1993

1993

Publication Date:
04 January 2007 (online)

Abstract

The stem bark of Ampelocera edentula Kuhlm. (Ulmaceae) is used by the Chimanes Indians from Bolivia for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by the protozoan Leishmania braziliensis. A chloroform extract of the stem barks was found to be active against extracellular forms of Leishmania ssp. and Trypanosoma cruzi at 50 µg/ml. Bioassay-guided fractionation of this extract allowed us to isolate one active compound. Its structure was elucidated by spectral and chemical studies as 4-hydroxy-1-tetralone. BALB/c mice infected with L. amazonensis (PH8) or L. venezuelensis were treated one day after the parasitic infection with 4-hydroxy-l-tetralone (25 mg/kg/day) or with reference drug, Glucantime® (56 mg Sbvkg/day) for 14 days. Lesion development was the criteria used to evaluate the disease severity. 4-Hydroxy-1-tetralone was slightly less effective than the reference drug against L. amazonensis or L. venezuelensis. Single treatment near the site of infection, 14 days after infection with L. amazonensis, with 4-hydroxy-1-tetralone (50 mg/kg) was more effective than Glucantime (112 mg/kg). This study is, to our knowledge, the first to show the activity of a tetralone for the experimental treatment of New World cutaneous leishmaniasis.