4.2 Article

In Vitro Effects of Aminopyridyl Ligands Complexed to Copper(II) on the Physiology and Interaction Process of Trypanosoma cruzi

Journal

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/tropicalmed8050288

Keywords

Trypanosoma cruzi; Chagas disease; metal complexes; chemotherapy

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Two novel copper complex compounds have been found to inhibit Trypanosoma cruzi and have low toxicity on mammalian cells, making them promising candidates for further drug development.
Chagas disease is derived from the infection by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. In many countries, benznidazole is the only drug approved for clinical use despite several side effects and the emergence of resistant parasite strains. In this context, our group has previously pointed out that two novel aminopyridine derivatives complexed with Cu2+, namely, cis-aquadichloro(N[4-(hydroxyphenyl)methyl]-2-pyridinemethamino)copper (3a) and its glycosylated ligand cis-dichloro (N-{[4-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy)pheny]lmethyl}-2-pyridinemethamino)copper (3b), are effective against T. cruzi trypomastigote forms. With this result in mind, the present work aimed to investigate the effects of both compounds on trypomastigotes physiology and on the interaction process with host cells. Apart from loss of plasma membrane integrity, an increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decreased mitochondrial metabolism were observed. Pretreatment of trypomastigotes with these metallodrugs inhibited the association index with LLC-MK2 cells in a typical dose-dependent manner. Both compounds showed low toxicity on mammalian cells (CC50 > 100 mu M), and the IC50 values calculated for intracellular amastigotes were determined as 14.4 mu M for 3a and 27.1 mu M for 3b. This set of results demonstrates the potential of these aminopyridines complexed with Cu2+ as promising candidates for further antitrypanosomal drug development.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.2
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available