Revista Brasileira de Parasitologia Veterinária ISSN: 0103-846X [email protected] Colégio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinária Brasil Freitas Macedo, Iara Tersia; Beserra de Oliveira, Lorena Mayana; Correia Ribeiro, Wesley Lyeverton; Leite dos Santos, Jessica Maria; das Chagas Silva, Kaline; de Araújo Filho, José Vilemar; Fernandes Camurça-Vasconcelos, Ana Lourdes; Leal Bevilaqua, Claudia Maria Anthelmintic activity of Cymbopogon citratus against Haemonchus contortus Revista Brasileira de Parasitologia Veterinária, vol. 24, núm. 3, julio-septiembre, 2015, pp. 268-275 Colégio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinária Jaboticabal, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=397841537002 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Original Article Braz. J. Vet. Parasitol., Jaboticabal, v. 24, n. 3, p. 268-275, jul.-set. 2015 ISSN 0103-846X (Print) / ISSN 1984-2961 (Electronic) Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1984-29612015059 Anthelmintic activity of Cymbopogon citratus against Haemonchus contortus Atividade anti-helmíntica de Cymbopogon citratus sobre Haemonchus contortus Iara Tersia Freitas Macedo1; Lorena Mayana Beserra de Oliveira1; Wesley Lyeverton Correia Ribeiro1; Jessica Maria Leite dos Santos 1; Kaline das Chagas Silva1; José Vilemar de Araújo Filho1; Ana Lourdes Fernandes Camurça-Vasconcelos1; Claudia Maria Leal Bevilaqua1* 1 Laboratório de Doenças Parasitárias, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual do Ceará – UECE, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil Received November 24, 2014 Accepted February 2, 2015 Abstract Parasitic nematodes are of major economic importance in livestock. An alternative for the control of parasites is phytotherapy. This study evaluated the efficacy of Cymbopogon citratus decoction (CcD), C. citratus essential oil (CcEo) and citral against Haemonchus contortus using in vitro egg hatch test (EHT) and larval development test (LDT) and an in vivo test using a Meriones unguiculatus (gerbil) model. The effect of 800 mg/kg CcEo was evaluated in gerbils that had been artificially infected with 5,000 third-stage H. contortus larvae. The effective concentrations required to inhibit 50% (EC50) of egg hatching were 0.46, 0.14 and 0.13 mg/mL for CcD, CcEo and citral, respectively. The EC50 values in the LDT were 5.04, 1.92 and 1.37 mg/mL for CcD, CcEo and citral, respectively. H. contortus population in the group treated with C. citratus essential oil was reduced by 38.5% (P< 0.05) in comparison to the control group. These results suggest that it may be possible to use C. citratus essential oil to control of H. contortus parasite of small ruminant. Keywords: Phytotherapy, anthelmintic, Meriones unguiculatus, in vitro, citral. Resumo O parasitismo por nematoides tem grande importância econômica no rebanho. Uma alternativa para o controle de parasitas é a fitoterapia. Este estudo avaliou a eficácia do decocto de Cymbopogon citratus (DCc), do óleo essencial de C. citratus (OECc) e do citral contra Haemonchus contortus utilizando o teste in vitro de eclosão dos ovos (TEO) e o teste de desenvolvimento larval (TDL) e um teste in vivo com modelo Meriones unguiculatus (gerbil). O efeito de 800 mg/kg de OECc foi avaliado em gerbils infectados artificialmente com 5000 larvas de terceira fase de H. contortus. As concentrações efetivas necessárias para inibir 50% (CE50) da eclosão dos ovos foram 0,46; 0,14 e 0,13 mg/mL para DCc, OECc e citral, respectivamente. Os valores da CE50 no TDL foram de 5,04; 1,92 e 1,37 mg/mL para DCc, OECc e citral, respectivamente. No grupo tratado com óleo de C. citratus a população H. contortus foi reduzida em 38,5% (P < 0,05) em comparação com o grupo controle. Estes resultados sugerem que pode ser possível a utilização de óleo essencial de C. citratus para controle de H. contortus, parasita de pequenos ruminantes. Palavras-chave: Fitoterapia, anti-helmínticos, Meriones unguiculatus, in vitro, citral. Introduction Haemonchus contortus is one of the most abundant and of resistance in nematode populations (MILLER et al., 2012). prevalent gastrointestinal parasite in sheep and goats in Brazil The intensification of the animal production system has led to an (SOUZA et al., 2013), besides causing acute disease and high increasing demand for effective and low-cost anthelmintic drugs mortality in all classes of livestock. Control programs have relied to control helminth diseases (ADEMOLA et al., 2004). These heavily on the use of synthetic anthelmintics. However, the efficacy concerns have led to the search for and evaluation of alternative of anthelmintics is increasingly endangered by the development control methods (ATHANASIADOU et al., 2001). One promising alternative has been to research and identify plant *Corresponding author: Claudia Maria Leal Bevilaqua. Programa de products with anthelmintic properties (MAPHOSA et al., 2010). Pós-graduação em Ciências Veterinárias, Faculdade de Veterinária - FAVET, The selection of candidate plants with nematicidal activity Universidade Estadual do Ceará - UECE, Av. Silas Munguba, 1700, Campus do Itaperi, CEP 60714-903, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil. involves several experimental stages, including an initial screening e-mail: [email protected] using in vitro assays with free-living stages of H. contortus www.cbpv.org.br/rbpv v. 24, n. 3, jul.-set. 2015 Anthelmintic activity of Cymbopogon citratus 269 (CAMURÇA-VASCONCELOS et al., 2005), and subsequent in vivo evaluations (JESÚS-GABINO et al., 2010). Meriones unguiculatus (gerbil) has been proposed as a suitable rodent model for the study of host–parasite interactions during H. contortus infection because of the histological similarity between the abomasum of lambs and the stomach of gerbils (CONDER et al., 1990). The gerbil model is an economical, easy-to-use and suitable in vivo model for the testing of anthelmintic agents and has the advantages of requiring smaller product quantities and allowing greater standardisation than livestock studies (SQUIRES et al., 2010). The selection of plants for evaluation as potential anthelmintics is based on surveys of popular accounts of the biological activity against nematodes. Cymbopogon citratus, family Poaceae, was reported in an ethnoveterinary study as having anthelmintic activity Figure 1. The chemical structures of geranial and neral (SILVA et al., 2009). (RITTER et al., 2012). Infusions or decoctions of dry leaves have been utilised as stomachic, antifever, antiseptic, carminative and tranquilising (ARHOGHRO et al., 2012; BORRELLI & from the container of the apparatus. Subsequently, this water was filtered, frozen and lyophilised. The essential oil and decoction IZZO, 2000). were stored at 4 °C until use. Citral (40:60 ratio of neral:geranial) In vitro tests with the aqueous extract of C. citratus reduced the was purchased from Sigma® (Chemical Company, St Louis, USA). burden of Strongyloidea larvae in goats (ALMEIDA et al., 2003). Several investigations have shown that the essential oil of C. citratus possesses antibacterial (NAIK et al., 2010), antifungal Egg hatch test (NGUEFACK et al., 2012), antioxidant (PEREIRA et al., 2009), Sheep experimentally infected with H. contortus were used as anti-Leishmania (MACHADO et al. 2012) and insecticidal effects a source of fresh eggs. The isolate of H. contortus is benzimidazole (KUMAR et al., 2013). These properties are attributed primarily resistant and it was obtained from central region of the state to the major constituent of the essential oil, the citral, which is a of Ceará, Brazil. H. contortus eggs were recovered according to natural combination of two isomeric aldehydes (Figure 1), neral the method of Hubert & Kerboeuf (1992). The egg hatch test (cis-citral) and geranial (trans-citral). Together these compounds (EHT) was performed based on the methodology described represent approximately 65-85% of the essential oil (SADDIQ by Coles et al. (1992). To increase their aqueous solubility, the & KHAYYAT, 2010). essential oil, decoction and citral were diluted in 3% Tween 80. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the An egg suspension (250 μL) containing approximately 100 fresh decoction and essential oil of C. citratus and their major constituent, eggs was incubated with 250 μL of essential oil or decoction or citral on H. contortus through two in vitro tests, the egg hatching citral at concentrations from 0.03 to 2.5 mg/mL for 48 h at 25 °C. and larval development assays. The effects of essential oil were Drops of Lugol’s solution were added. The eggs and the first-stage also evaluated in an in vivo test using gerbils. larvae (L1) were counted under a microscope. This test had two controls: a negative containing the diluent (3% Tween 80) and a Materials and Methods positive containing 0.025 mg/mL thiabendazole. Three repetitions with five replicates for each essential oil concentration and for The care and handling of animals were in accordance with the each control were performed. Brazilian legislation for use of animals in experiment (BRASIL, 2008), and the protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of Ceará Larval development test State University (number: 09657334-1). A larval development test (LDT) was performed using an aliquot Obtaining the plant of egg suspension obtained according to the method