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Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture

Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite that infects intestinal epithelial cells causing malabsorption and severe diarrhea. The monoterpene thymol has been reported to have antifungal and antibacterial properties but less is known about the antiparasitic effect of this compound. Terpenes are...

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Autores principales: Dominguez-Uscanga, Astrid, Aycart, Danielle Francesca, Li, Kun, Witola, William H., Andrade Laborde, Juan E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7932911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33647675
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpddr.2021.02.003
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author Dominguez-Uscanga, Astrid
Aycart, Danielle Francesca
Li, Kun
Witola, William H.
Andrade Laborde, Juan E.
author_facet Dominguez-Uscanga, Astrid
Aycart, Danielle Francesca
Li, Kun
Witola, William H.
Andrade Laborde, Juan E.
author_sort Dominguez-Uscanga, Astrid
collection PubMed
description Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite that infects intestinal epithelial cells causing malabsorption and severe diarrhea. The monoterpene thymol has been reported to have antifungal and antibacterial properties but less is known about the antiparasitic effect of this compound. Terpenes are sometimes unsuitable for therapeutic and food applications because of their instability. Esterification of terpenes eliminates this disadvantage. The present study evaluates the effects of thymol (Th) and a thymol ester, thymol octanoate (TO), against C. parvum infectivity in vitro. The cytotoxicity IC(50) value for TO after 24 h of treatment was 309.6 μg/mL, significantly higher than that of Th (122.5 μg/mL) in a human adenocarcinoma cell line (HCT-8). In the same way, following 48 h of treatment, the cytotoxicity IC(50) value for TO was significantly higher (139 μg/mL) than that of Th (75.5 μg/mL). These results indicate that esterification significantly reduces Th cytotoxicity. Dose-dependent effects were observed for TO and Th when both parasite invasion and parasite growth assays were evaluated. When evaluated for their activity against C. parvum growth cultured in vitro in HCT-8 cells, the anti-cryptosporidial IC(50) values were 35.5 and 7.5 μg/mL, for TO and Th, respectively. Together, these findings indicate that esterified thymol has anti-cryptosporidial effect comparable with its parental compound thymol, but with improved safety margins in mammalian cells and better physicochemical properties that could make it more suitable for diverse applications as an antiparasitic agent.
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spelling pubmed-79329112021-03-12 Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture Dominguez-Uscanga, Astrid Aycart, Danielle Francesca Li, Kun Witola, William H. Andrade Laborde, Juan E. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist Regular article Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite that infects intestinal epithelial cells causing malabsorption and severe diarrhea. The monoterpene thymol has been reported to have antifungal and antibacterial properties but less is known about the antiparasitic effect of this compound. Terpenes are sometimes unsuitable for therapeutic and food applications because of their instability. Esterification of terpenes eliminates this disadvantage. The present study evaluates the effects of thymol (Th) and a thymol ester, thymol octanoate (TO), against C. parvum infectivity in vitro. The cytotoxicity IC(50) value for TO after 24 h of treatment was 309.6 μg/mL, significantly higher than that of Th (122.5 μg/mL) in a human adenocarcinoma cell line (HCT-8). In the same way, following 48 h of treatment, the cytotoxicity IC(50) value for TO was significantly higher (139 μg/mL) than that of Th (75.5 μg/mL). These results indicate that esterification significantly reduces Th cytotoxicity. Dose-dependent effects were observed for TO and Th when both parasite invasion and parasite growth assays were evaluated. When evaluated for their activity against C. parvum growth cultured in vitro in HCT-8 cells, the anti-cryptosporidial IC(50) values were 35.5 and 7.5 μg/mL, for TO and Th, respectively. Together, these findings indicate that esterified thymol has anti-cryptosporidial effect comparable with its parental compound thymol, but with improved safety margins in mammalian cells and better physicochemical properties that could make it more suitable for diverse applications as an antiparasitic agent. Elsevier 2021-02-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7932911/ /pubmed/33647675 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpddr.2021.02.003 Text en © 2021 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Regular article
Dominguez-Uscanga, Astrid
Aycart, Danielle Francesca
Li, Kun
Witola, William H.
Andrade Laborde, Juan E.
Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture
title Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture
title_full Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture
title_fullStr Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture
title_full_unstemmed Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture
title_short Anti-protozoal activity of Thymol and a Thymol ester against Cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture
title_sort anti-protozoal activity of thymol and a thymol ester against cryptosporidium parvum in cell culture
topic Regular article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7932911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33647675
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpddr.2021.02.003
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