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The Marine Microbial Alkaloid (R)-Salsolinol is Effective Against Trypanosoma cruzi

The Marine Microbial Alkaloid (R)-Salsolinol is Effective Against Trypanosoma cruzi
The Marine Microbial Alkaloid (R)-Salsolinol is Effective Against Trypanosoma cruzi

Chagas disease is a parasitic disease with approximately 8 million people infected worldwide, presenting a limited and toxic treatment. Comprising a vast chemodiversity, microbial metabolites are among the most important sources of FDA-approved anti-infectives. In this work, the bioactivity-guided fractionation from an extract obtained from the bacterium Bacillus altitudinis, isolated from a red seaweed, afforded an antitrypanosomal alkaloid which was characterized as (R)-salsolinol by 1H NMR and HR-ESIMS analysis. (R)-Salsolinol showed a trypanocidal effect against the trypomastigotes (EC50 = 14 µg/mL) and a selective activity against the intracellular amastigotes (EC50 = 19 µg/mL), with no mammalian cytotoxicity in human monocytic cells THP-1 (CC50 > 36 µg/mL). In silico studies predicted a high permeability into cell membranes, as well as a high gastrointestinal absorption, with acceptable parameters in pharmaceutical filters, as well as cruzipain as a possible target protein, suggesting that (R)-salsolinol can be used as a prototype for drug design studies in Chagas disease.

Bacillus, Chagas disease, marine bacteria, molecular docking, therapy, Trypanosoma cruzi
1612-1872
Abiuzi, Mariana B.
ea77094a-0319-47cb-ab28-3ad87aca4dca
de Andrade, Beatriz A.
b120ae1f-862e-4797-90a3-74a9454f54ca
Ramos, Fernanda F.
afc700b8-64d6-4615-bbcc-38b6aad1bf2e
Totini, Carlos H.
350f9aef-2f2d-4bec-afaf-e7bb52cd706e
Christodoulides, Myron
eba99148-620c-452a-a334-c1a52ba94078
Kant, Ravi
7701bda0-8d8b-4c7b-b988-75f6da612e2a
Lago, João Henrique G.
17ffc058-ec39-4201-9761-90ec10d7cf39
Tempone, Andre G.
c9cf2b44-9b42-4b35-8b20-e7c15fe29cd3
Abiuzi, Mariana B.
ea77094a-0319-47cb-ab28-3ad87aca4dca
de Andrade, Beatriz A.
b120ae1f-862e-4797-90a3-74a9454f54ca
Ramos, Fernanda F.
afc700b8-64d6-4615-bbcc-38b6aad1bf2e
Totini, Carlos H.
350f9aef-2f2d-4bec-afaf-e7bb52cd706e
Christodoulides, Myron
eba99148-620c-452a-a334-c1a52ba94078
Kant, Ravi
7701bda0-8d8b-4c7b-b988-75f6da612e2a
Lago, João Henrique G.
17ffc058-ec39-4201-9761-90ec10d7cf39
Tempone, Andre G.
c9cf2b44-9b42-4b35-8b20-e7c15fe29cd3

Abiuzi, Mariana B., de Andrade, Beatriz A., Ramos, Fernanda F., Totini, Carlos H., Christodoulides, Myron, Kant, Ravi, Lago, João Henrique G. and Tempone, Andre G. (2025) The Marine Microbial Alkaloid (R)-Salsolinol is Effective Against Trypanosoma cruzi. Chemistry and Biodiversity, 22 (7), [e202403109]. (doi:10.1002/cbdv.202403109).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Chagas disease is a parasitic disease with approximately 8 million people infected worldwide, presenting a limited and toxic treatment. Comprising a vast chemodiversity, microbial metabolites are among the most important sources of FDA-approved anti-infectives. In this work, the bioactivity-guided fractionation from an extract obtained from the bacterium Bacillus altitudinis, isolated from a red seaweed, afforded an antitrypanosomal alkaloid which was characterized as (R)-salsolinol by 1H NMR and HR-ESIMS analysis. (R)-Salsolinol showed a trypanocidal effect against the trypomastigotes (EC50 = 14 µg/mL) and a selective activity against the intracellular amastigotes (EC50 = 19 µg/mL), with no mammalian cytotoxicity in human monocytic cells THP-1 (CC50 > 36 µg/mL). In silico studies predicted a high permeability into cell membranes, as well as a high gastrointestinal absorption, with acceptable parameters in pharmaceutical filters, as well as cruzipain as a possible target protein, suggesting that (R)-salsolinol can be used as a prototype for drug design studies in Chagas disease.

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Accepted/In Press date: 27 February 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 February 2025
Published date: 15 March 2025
Keywords: Bacillus, Chagas disease, marine bacteria, molecular docking, therapy, Trypanosoma cruzi

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 502738
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/502738
ISSN: 1612-1872
PURE UUID: 27b5d529-bb04-4254-a27b-c078ad7e0d49
ORCID for Myron Christodoulides: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9663-4731
ORCID for Ravi Kant: ORCID iD orcid.org/0009-0007-6348-4638

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Date deposited: 07 Jul 2025 16:49
Last modified: 11 Sep 2025 01:36

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Contributors

Author: Mariana B. Abiuzi
Author: Beatriz A. de Andrade
Author: Fernanda F. Ramos
Author: Carlos H. Totini
Author: Ravi Kant ORCID iD
Author: João Henrique G. Lago
Author: Andre G. Tempone

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