Chemosystematics as a tool for the rational prospection of leishmanicidal bioactive natural products

Chemosystematics is a strategic approach both to the study of natural compounds and to a rational prospection for new bioactive molecules. It has been successfully employed to deduce taxonomic relationships and evolutionary positioning in the plant kingdom (KAPLAN et al., 2010). Leishmaniasis is a neglected disease caused by about 20 species of protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted to humans by more than 30 different species of sandflies (LEON & TORRES-SANTOS, 2017). The present work proposes new plant sources for the bioprospection of leishmanicidal molecules. This work is a qualitative research, based on the document analysis technique, observing primary and secondary sources. Chemical, botanical and antiparasitic data were initially collected from the Sci-Finder online database and supplemented by the Portal CAPES, after accessing intranet.ufrj.br. The main secondary sources consulted were Web of Science, PUBMED and SciELO through the keywords: “natural products and leishmaniasis”, “natural products and anti-leishmania”, “natural products and Leishmania” and “medicinal plants and Leishmania”. Preference was given to review articles. The data obtained, according to the chemosystematics methodology (KAPLAN, 2010), were typed in a spreadsheet of the Microsoft Excel program, composing a database, organized by botanical information (APG III System of flowering plant classification), chemical classes of natural products, compounds, fractions, plant extracts, geographical occurrence and species of Leishmania. We found that Asterales (Asteraceae), Gentianales (Apocynaceae), Lamiales (Lamiaceae), Magnoliales (Annonaceae), Ranunculales (Berberidaceae) and Sapindales (Solanaceae) were the taxa with the largest number of species with potential for the treatment of leishmaniasis. The alkaloids, triterpenoids, lactones, sesquiterpenoids and quinoids were the major chemical groups responsible for leishmanicidal activity. Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis, L. (L.) donovani, L. (L.) major, L. (L.) infantum and L. (V.) braziliensis are the most described species in the literature as a model for the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis by secondary metabolites. In this systematic review, it was observed that few pharmacological assays for the discovery of leishmanicidal compounds were based on ethnopharmacology, and although these studies were started at random, most of them were conducted in countries where the disease is endemic (Brazil, Iran and Bolivia).

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