A Screening of 10,240 NatureBank Fractions Identifies Nematicidal Activity in Agelasine-Containing Extracts from Sponges.

Nematode infections affect a fifth of the human population, livestock, and crops worldwide, imposing a burden to global public health and economies, particularly in developing nations. Resistance to commercial anthelmintics has increased over the years in livestock infections and driven the pursuit for new drugs. We herein present a rapid, cost-effective, and automated assay for nematicide discovery using the free-living nematode to screen a highly diverse natural product library enriched in bioactive molecules.

New heterobimetallic ferrocenyl derivatives are promising antitrypanosomal agents.

In the search for a more effective chemotherapy for the treatment of Chagas' disease and human African trypanosomiasis, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma brucei parasites, respectively, the use of organometallic compounds may be a promising strategy. In this work, eight new heterobimetallic compounds are described including four 5-nitrofuryl containing thiosemicarbazones as bioactive ligands (HL1-HL4) and dppf = 1,1'-bis(diphenylphosphino) ferrocene as an organometallic co-ligand. Complexes of the formula [M(L)(dppf)](PF) with M = Pd or Pt were synthesized and fully characterized in the solid state and in solution, including the determination of the molecular structure of four of them by single crystal X-ray diffraction methods.

Infrared-Based Motility Assay Identified New Hits for Nematicide Drug Development.

Nematode parasites have a profound impact on humankind, infecting nearly one-quarter of the world's population, as well as livestock. There is a pressing need for discovering nematicides due to the spread of resistance to currently used drugs. The free-living nematode is a formidable experimentally tractable model organism that offers key advantages in accelerating nematicide discovery.

New heteroleptic oxidovanadium(V) complexes: synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation as potential agents against Trypanosoma cruzi.

Searching for prospective vanadium-based agents against Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite causing Chagas disease, four new [VO(8HQ-H)(L-2H)] compounds, where 8HQ is 8-hydroxyquinoline and L are tridentate salicylaldehyde semicarbazone derivatives L1-L4, were synthesized and characterized in the solid state and in solution. The compounds were evaluated on T. cruzi epimastigotes (CL Brener) as well as on VERO cells, as mammalian cell model.

Caenorhabditis elegans: nature and nurture gift to nematode parasitologists.

The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is the simplest animal model organism to work with. Substantial knowledge and tools have accumulated over 50 years of C. elegans research.