Banca de DEFESA: CAMILA CASTILHO MORAES

ACTIVITY ANTIMALARIAL IN VIVO OF PIPER LEAVES ESSENTIAL OIL marginatum Jacq. (PIPERACEAE)

Piper marginatum, essential oil, Plasmodium berghei.

Malaria is an infectious disease considered one of the biggest economic and social problems in the world, affecting mainly populations in countries with tropical and subtropical climates. The disease is caused by protozoa of the Plasmodium genus and the species of P. falciparum and P. vivax are responsible for most cases of the disease. For the treatment of malaria there is a wide therapeutic arsenal developed from natural products and their synthetic compounds, especially quinolines, artemisinin, antifolates and some antibiotics. However, the adverse effects caused by the pharmacological treatment currently used are serious and may even cause the patient's death. In addition, the appearance of resistant parasites, together with the lack of a vaccine and their high endemicity, justify the search for molecules that fight the disease, but that have fewer side effects. In this context, the great biodiversity of the Amazon Forest presents itself as a source of new bioactive molecules for the production of new drugs with antimalarial potential. Thus, this research aims to evaluate the antimalarial activity of the essential oil from leaves of Piper marginatum Jacq. The botanical material will be collected at the Federal University of West of the Pará, where the leaves will be weighed and dried in an oven, then crushed in a mill, for later obtaining the essential oil by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger apparatus. Chemical characterization will be performed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. To evaluate the antimalarial activity, Piper marginatum essential oil will be tested in BALB/c mice, which will be infected by Plasmodium berghei. The doses of Piper marginatum essential oil used in the experiment will be standardized from acute oral toxicity tests determined using the Guide OECD-423/2001. In addition, the survival time of the animals in each group will be evaluated and soon after the end of the experiment, all animals will undergo cardiac puncture for blood collection essential for the analysis of plasma glucose, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, plasma glutamyltransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, direct and indirect total bilirubin, urea and plasma creatinine.