RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Leishmanicidal activity of α-bisabolol from Tunisian chamomile essential oil A1 Hajaji, Soumaya A1 Sifaoui, Ines A1 López Arencibia, Atteneri A1 Reyes Batlle, María A1 Jiménez Díaz, Ignacio Antonio A1 López Bazzocchi, Isabel A1 Valladares Hernández, Basilio A1 Akkari, Hafidh A1 Lorenzo Morales, Jacob A1 Piñero Barroso, José Enrique K1 Leishmania K1 Chamomile K1 (−)-α-Bisabolol K1 Apoptosis K1 Mitochondrial membrane potential K1 ATP levels AB According to the World Health Organization, leishmaniasis is considered as a major neglected tropical diseasecausing an enormous impact on global public health. Available treatments were complicated due to the high resistance,toxicity, and high cost. Therefore, the search for novel sources of anti-leishmania agents is an urgent need. Inthe present study, an in vitro evaluation of the leishmanicidal activity of the essential oil of Tunisian chamomile(Matricaria recutita L.) was carried out. Chamomile essential oil exhibits a good activity on promastigotes forms ofL. amazonensis and L. infantum with a low inhibitory concentration at 50% (IC50) (10.8 ± 1.4 and 10.4 ± 0.6 μg/mL,respectively). Bio-guided fractionation was developed and led to the identification of (−)-α-bisabolol as the mostactive molecule with low IC50 (16.0 ± 1.2 and 9.5 ± 0.1 μg/mL for L. amazonensis and L. infantum, respectively).This isolated sesquiterpene alcohol was studied for its activity on amastigotes forms (IC50 = 5.9 ± 1.2 and 4.8 ±1.3 μg/mL, respectively) and its cytotoxicity (selectivity indexes (SI) were 5.4 and 6.6, respectively). The obtainedresults showed that (−)-α-bisabolol was able to activate a programmed cell death process in the promastigote stageof the parasite. It causes phosphatidylserine externalization and membrane damage. Moreover, it decreases themitochondrial membrane potential and total ATP levels. These results highlight the potential use of (−)-α-bisabololagainst both L. amazonensis and L. infantum, and further studies should be undertaken to establish it as novelleishmanicidal therapeutic agents. YR 2018 FD 2018 LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/36069 UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/36069 LA en DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna RD 25-nov-2024