Efficacy of a diarylheptanoid derivative against Leishmania amazonensis.

The activity of several diarylheptanoid derivatives (curcuminoids) was previously evaluated against Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and among them the most active compound was the [1-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-7-(3,4-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenyl)-1,6-heptadien-3, 5-dione]. This derivative was chosen to be assayed in vivo in a treatment trial. For these experiments, the curcuminoid compound was used in a concentration equivalent to the IC50/24 h, obtained from the previous study.

In vitro antiproliferative effects of several diaryl derivatives on Leishmania spp.

In a previous works searching for new drugs with high efficiency, we reported the in vitro and in vivo antileishmanial activity of a series of diarylheptanoid structurally related to curcumin against L. amazonensis. This work describes the in vitro antileishmanial activity of a new series of diarylheptanoids and diarylpentanoids derivatives.

Effect of amidine derivatives on nitric oxide production by Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and axenic amastigotes.

The effects of pentamidine isethionate (reference drug) and N,N'-diphenyl-4-methoxy-benzamidine (test compound) on NO. production by Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and axenic amastigotes were investigated by measuring nitrite, a by-product of nitric oxide released into culture supernatants. The NO.