Rita de Cássia De Almeida

Dr. Rita de Cássia De Almeida

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

10Years (2017-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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30 November 2018 in Molecules
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SLSimone Cristina Lima
Simone Cristina Lima
JPJuliana Pacheco
Juliana Pacheco
AMAndre Marques
Andre Marques
EVEduardo Raul Pereira Veltri
Eduardo Raul Pereira Veltri
RARita de Cássia De Almeida
Rita de Cássia De Almeida
ETEduardo Caio Torres-Santos
Eduardo Caio Torres-Santos
Leishmaniasis is the generic denomination to the neglected diseases caused by more than 20 species of protozoa belonging to the genus Leishmania. The toxic and parenteral-delivered pentavalent antimonials remain to be the first-line treatment. However, all the current used drugs have restrictions. The species Aureliana fasciculata (Vell.) Sendtner var. fasciculata is a native Brazilian species parsimoniously studied on a chemical point of view. In this study, the antileishmanial activity of A. fasciculata was evaluated. Among the evaluated samples of the leaves, the dichloromethane partition (AFfDi) showed the more pronounced activity, with IC50 1.85 µg/ml against promastigotes of L. amazonensis. From AFfDi, two active withanolides were isolated, the Aurelianolides A and B, with IC50 7.61 μM and 7.94 μM, respectively. The withanolides also proved to be active against the clinically important form, the intracellular amastigote, with IC50 2.25 μM and 6.43 μM for Aurelianolides A and B, respectively. Furthermore, withanolides showed results for in silico parameters of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) similar to miltefosine, the reference drug, and were predicted as good oral drugs, with the advantage of not being hepatotoxic. These results suggest that these compounds can be useful as scaffolds for planning drug design.