Hinokinin, an Emerging Bioactive Lignan

Marcotullio, Maria Carla; Pelosi, Azzurra; Curini, Massimo

The reduction of tissue parasitism upon treatment with hinokinin (1), was evaluated in vivo by Esperandim and coworkers by quantifying the enzyme β-galactosidase expressed by the CLB5 clone strain of T. cruzi [92, 93] . Treatment of mice infected with T. cruzi CLB5 with hinokinin (1) promoted significant reduction of tissue parasitism (liver, spleen and heart) compared with data recorded for untreated controls. Treatment with hinokinin (1) or benznidazole at a drug concentration of 50 mg/Kg a day, furnished a parasitism reduction of 50.5% or 41.7% in the liver; 71% or 16% in the spleen; and 41.4%, or 30.4% in the heart, respectively. The authors noted that there were some differences between the oral and intraperitoneal administration routes, being the former more effective for all evaluated organs, while BZN administered intraperitonealy was more effective for spleen and heart parasitism reduction [92] . Later, Esperandim evaluated in detail the in vivo therapeutic properties of oral administered hinokinin (1) against CLB5 strain of T. cruzi [93] . Hinokinin was assayed at concentration of 20 and 50 mg/kg. The authors observed that hinokinin at 20 mg/kg reduced the number of circulating forms at peak parasitemia of 51%, while at 50 mg/kg of 34.2%. The karyometry analysis once again showed a better behavior of 20 mg/kg dose ( Table 4 ).