Análise das atividades antiviral e imunomoduladora de extratos da resina de protium sp por infecção in vitro de hepatócitos humanos (Hum-7) pelo vírus dengue

Abstract

Dengue is an alarming disease that affects mainly underdeveloped countries, affecting the low income population who are located in places with poor basic sanitation. In Brazil every year has been showing an increase in the number of dengue cases. Given all the described and recognized biological actions of Protium sp. and the search for drugs to reduce the main factors involved with the severity of dengue, it is proposed the in vitro investigation of resin extracts of Protium sp. for antiviral and, mainly, immunomodulatory activity in Huh-7 hepatocytes by DENV-2 virus. Three extracts of Protium sp. resin were used, with maceration methods using the following solvents: hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol. Different concentrations of these extracts of Protium sp. were evaluated for their cytotoxicity in the Huh-7 human hepatocyte lineage by quantitative MTT colorimetric assays. The results revealed that only the concentrations of 50 µg/ml and 10 µg/ml of the extracts of Protium sp. obtained by maceration were not cytotoxic at the observed wavelengths, whereas the extracts obtained by the solvents of ethyl acetate and ethanol from Protium sp. were considered toxic to hepatocytes. Antiviral and immunomodulatory activities were not performed due to the COVID-19 pandemic that paralyzed part of academic activities. Only the hexane extracts obtained by maceration show promise for future analysis of antiviral and immunomodulatory activity against DENV-2 through the cytotoxicity test, however, further tests are recommended to indicate its effects in cell cultures. Keywords: Natural products; Cytotoxicity; MTT test