toxicologic profile and trypanocidal activity of estafietin, a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Stevia alpina Griseb.

Chagas disease is an infection caused by the protozoan affecting 6-8 million people worldwide. Only two drugs are available for its treatment, having a limited efficacy and adverse side-effects. Estafietin is a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from with activity against and low cytotoxicity against mammalian cells. The aim of this work was to predict the toxicologic profile of estafietin by methods and assess its activity on a murine model of Chagas disease. Estafietin showed low toxicity according to pkCSM web tool and passed the PAINS filter from PAINS-remover web server. The treatment of infected mice with 1 mg/Kg/day of estafietin for five consecutive days administrated by intraperitoneal route significatively decreased parasitemia levels and reduced inflammatory infiltrates and myocyte damage on muscle tissue. These results suggest that estafietin had effect both on acute and chronic stages of the infection.