In vitro antiproliferative effects of several diaryl derivatives on Leishmania spp.

In a previous works searching for new drugs with high efficiency, we reported the in vitro and in vivo antileishmanial activity of a series of diarylheptanoid structurally related to curcumin against L. amazonensis. This work describes the in vitro antileishmanial activity of a new series of diarylheptanoids and diarylpentanoids derivatives. These drugs were assayed against Leishmania amazonensis, L. braziliensis and L. chagasi promastigotes containing a high percentage of metacyclic forms and the axenic amastigote form of L. amazonensis and using Pentamidine Isethionate as reference drug. Parasites in the log late phase culture were incubated with several concentrations of the drugs solubilized in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) and then counted in a Neubauer's chamber. Controls without the drugs and with DMSO were done in parallel. The results showed that all diarylheptanoids and diarylpentanoids had a very good antileishmanial activity.