AVALIAÇÃO DO EFEITO DE LEVAMISOL SOBRE A MORFOLOGIA E MULTIPLICAÇÃO DE TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI

Abstract

The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas Disease, one of the diseases considered by the World Health Organization to be neglected. The parasite has the ability to cause parasitemia and eventually invade tissues. The drugs used to treat this disease are effective, but cause many adverse effects, which is why adherence to treatment is low. Faced with this scenario, there is a search for pharmacotherapeutic alternatives, but this path comes up against common barriers to the discovery of new drugs, such as time and resources. For this reason, drug repositioning is a viable alternative, as it requires less time and/or resources. Levamisole is a drug from the anthelmintic class, with an immunomodulatory effect, used to treat ascariasis. Recent articles also point to its activity in forms of Giardia sp. Its mechanism of action is throughenzymatic interference in the parasite and, because of this, the possibility of it having activity against strains of Trypanosoma cruzi is being investigated. The drug’s activity was assessed in three ways: through the MTS test, with a concentration of 200ug/mL of the drug and incubation at 37°C for 72 hours; counting parasites in a Neubauer chamber with a concentration of 400ug/mL of the drug; and analyzing the morphologyof the protozoa using a microscope slide fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and stainedusing the Panocyte method. A culture without the addition of the drug was used as a control for the three methods. Parasite growth was checked at 24 hours and 72 hours and, at the end, a morphological analysis was carried out. Based on the results of the tests, the interaction between the drug and the parasite was evaluated. Based on this evaluation, it will be possible in the future to determine the effect of this drug as an immunomodulator in cells infected with the parasite.