<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Medicinal plants have been successfully used in the ethno medicine for a wide range of diseases since ancient times. The research on natural products has allowed the discovery of biologically relevant compounds inspired by plant secondary metabolites, what contributed to the development of many chemotherapeutic drugs. Flavonoids represent a group of therapeutically very effective plant secondary metabolites and selected molecules were shown to exert also antiparasitic activity. This work summarizes the recent knowledge generated within past three decades about potential parasitocidal activities of several flavonoids with different chemical structures, particularly on medically important flatworms such as <italic>Schistosoma</italic> spp., <italic>Fasciola</italic> spp., <italic>Echinococcus</italic> spp., <italic>Raillietina</italic> spp., and model cestode <italic>Mesocestoides vogae</italic>. Here we focus on curcumin, genistein, quercetin and silymarin complex of flavonolignans. All of them possess a whole spectrum of biological activities on eukaryotic cells which have multi-therapeutic effects in various diseases. <italic>In vitro</italic> they can induce profound alterations in the tegumental architecture and its functions as well as their activity can significantly modulate or damage worm´s metabolism directly by interaction with enzymes or signaling molecules in dose-dependent manner. Moreover, they seem to differentially regulate the RNA activity in numbers of worm´s genes. This review suggests that examined flavonoids and their derivates are promising molecules for antiparasitic drug research. Due to lack of toxicity, isoflavons could be used directly for therapy, or as adjuvant therapy for diseases caused by medically important cestodes and trematodes.</p></abstract>

Medicinal plants have been successfully used in the ethno medicine for a wide range of diseases since ancient times. The research on natural products has allowed the discovery of biologically relevant compounds inspired by plant secondary metabolites, what contributed to the development of many chemotherapeutic drugs. Flavonoids represent a group of therapeutically very effective plant secondary metabolites and selected molecules were shown to exert also antiparasitic activity. This work summarizes the recent knowledge generated within past three decades about potential parasitocidal activities of several flavonoids with different chemical structures, particularly on medically important flatworms such as Schistosoma spp., Fasciola spp., Echinococcus spp., Raillietina spp., and model cestode Mesocestoides vogae. Here we focus on curcumin, genistein, quercetin and silymarin complex of flavonolignans. All of them possess a whole spectrum of biological activities on eukaryotic cells which have multi-therapeutic effects in various diseases. In vitro they can induce profound alterations in the tegumental architecture and its functions as well as their activity can significantly modulate or damage worm´s metabolism directly by interaction with enzymes or signaling molecules in dose-dependent manner. Moreover, they seem to differentially regulate the RNA activity in numbers of worm´s genes. This review suggests that examined flavonoids and their derivates are promising molecules for antiparasitic drug research. Due to lack of toxicity, isoflavons could be used directly for therapy, or as adjuvant therapy for diseases caused by medically important cestodes and trematodes.

Antiparasitic effects of selected isoflavones on flatworms

Helminthologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Antiparasitic effects of selected isoflavones on flatworms"}

Medicinal plants have been successfully used in the ethno medicine for a wide range of diseases since ancient times. The research on natural products has...

Antiparasitic effects of selected isoflavones on flatworms

Article Category: Review

Published Online: Feb 10, 2021

Page range: 1 - 16

Received: Apr 20, 2020

Accepted: Dec 07, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/helm-2021-0004

Keywords
curcumin, genistein, quercetin, silymarin, antiparasitic effects, cestodes, trematodes

© 2021 D. Faixová, G. Hrčková, T. Mačák Kubašková, D. Mudroňová, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Antiparasitic effects of selected isoflavones on flatworms

Article Category: Review

Published Online: Feb 10, 2021

Page range: 1 - 16

Received: Apr 20, 2020

Accepted: Dec 07, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/helm-2021-0004

Keywordscurcumin, genistein, quercetin, silymarin, antiparasitic effects, cestodes, trematodes

© 2021 D. Faixová, G. Hrčková, T. Mačák Kubašková, D. Mudroňová, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Keywords
curcumin, genistein, quercetin, silymarin, antiparasitic effects, cestodes, trematodes