Abstract

SATALAYA R., Johann et al. Antiparasitic activity of medicin al plants from Peruvian Amazon. BIOFARBO [online]. 2009, vol.17, n.2, pp. 23-31. ISSN 1813-5363.

Parasitic diseases, including Leishmaniasis, Malaria and Chagas, are serious problems of public health worldwide, mainly in the Amazonian regions, and medicinal plants are an alternative in the treatment and control of these diseases. This work aims to evaluate eight medicinal plants from the Peruvian Amazon, which have been prepared into dichloromethane, ethanol and aqueous extracts, obtaining forty extract samples. The antiparasitic activity of each one of these samples was then evaluated in vitro  promastigotes forms of different strains of Leishmania, epimastigotes of T. cruzi and Plasmodium falciparum trophozoites; the results showed that the extract from Unonopsis spectabilis was the most active against L. amazonensis, L. brazilensis and L. donovani with IC₅₀ of 65.3, 54.2 and 24.5mg / ml respectively, with P. falciparum presenting IC₅₀ of 10mg/ml and, however, proving to be inactive against T. cruzi.

Keywords : extracts; plants of peruvian amazonic; leishmanicidal; trypanocidal and antiplasmodial activity.