HERBICIDES TO CURB HUMAN PARASITIC INFECTIONS - INVITRO AND INVIVO EFFECTS OF TRIFLURALIN ON THE TRYPANOSOMATID PROTOZOANS

Leishmaniasis is a major tropical disease for which current chemothera pies, pentavalent antimonials, are inadequate and cause severe side ef fects. It has been reported that trifluralin, a microtubule-disrupting herbicide, is inhibitory to Leishmania amazonensis. In this study, th e in vitro effect of trifluralin on different species of trypanosomati d protozoans was determined. In addition to L. amazonensis, triflurali n is effective against Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica, which cause cutaneous infections, Leishmania donovani, which causes visceral disease, Leishmania panamensis, which may cause mucocutaneous infecti on, and Trypanosoma brucei, an important human and veterinary pathogen . Moreover, most encouragingly, trifluralin is effective in vivo as a topical ointment against L. major and Leishmania mexicana murine cutan eous leishmaniasis. Thus, trifluralin is a promising lead drug for sev eral related, prevalent tropical diseases: leishmaniasis, trypanosomia sis of animals, and, possibly, African trypanosomiasis in humans.