Susceptibility of Kinetoplastids to Celastroloids from Maytenus chiapensis.

Leishmaniasis and Chagas are among the most significant neglected tropical diseases. Due to several drawbacks with the current chemotherapy, developing new antikinetoplastid drugs has become an urgent issue. In the present work, a bioassay-guided investigation of the root bark of on and led to the identification of two -friedo-nor-oleanane triterpenoids (celastroloids), 20β-hydroxy-tingenone (celastroloid 5) and 3--methyl-6-oxo-tingenol (celastroloid 8), as promising antikinetoplastid leads. They displayed higher potency on promastigotes (50% inhibitory concentrations [ICs], 0.44 and 1.12 μM, respectively), intracellular amastigotes (ICs, 0.83 and 1.91 μM, respectively), and epimastigote stage (ICs, 2.61 and 3.41 μM, respectively) than reference drugs miltefosine and benznidazole. This potency was coupled with an excellent selectivity index on murine macrophages. Mechanism of action studies, including mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) and ATP-level analysis, revealed that celastroloids could induce apoptotic cell death in triggered by the mitochondria. In addition, the structure-activity relationship is discussed. These findings strongly underline the potential of celastroloids as lead compounds to develop novel antikinetoplastid drugs.