Liposomes Composed by Membrane Lipid Extracts from Macrophage Cell Line as a Delivery of the Trypanocidal ,'-Squaramide 17 towards .

Chagas is a neglected tropical disease caused by , and affects about 25 million people worldwide. , '-Squaramide 17 (S) is a trypanocidal compound with relevant in vivo effectiveness. Here, we produced, characterized, and evaluated cytotoxic and trypanocidal effects of macrophage-mimetic liposomes from lipids extracted of RAW 264.7 cells to release S. As results, the average hydrodynamic diameter and Zeta potential of mimetic lipid membranes containing S (MLS) was 196.5 ± 11 nm and -61.43 ± 2.3 mV, respectively. Drug entrapment efficiency was 73.35% ± 2.05%. After a 72 h treatment, MLS was observed to be active against epimastigotes in vitro (IC = 15.85 ± 4.82 μM) and intracellular amastigotes (IC = 24.92 ± 4.80 μM). Also, it induced low cytotoxicity with CC of 1199.50 ± 1.22 μM towards VERO cells and of 1973.97 ± 5.98 μM in RAW 264.7. MLS also induced fissures in parasite membrane with a diameter of approximately 200 nm in epimastigotes. MLS showed low cytotoxicity in mammalian cells and high trypanocidal activity revealing this nanostructure a promising candidate for the development of Chagas disease treatment.