Evaluation of in vitro Schistosomicidal and Trypanocidal Activity of Leaf Extracts of Hancornia speciosa

Medicinal plants are viable for threating various diseases, as the metabolites they contain demonstrate a great diversity of biological activities. In this study, we conducted a phytochemical analysis and evaluated of the in vitro antiparasitic activity of extracts from the leaves of Hancornia speciosa, popularly known as mangabeira, against Trypanossoma cruzi and Schistosoma mansoni parasites. We collected the leaves of this species in the municipality of Urutaí - GO, and obtained an ethanolic extract, in which classes of organic acid compounds, coumarins, reducing sugars, catechin tannins, foaming saponins and flavonoids were identified by phytochemical analysis. The antiparasitic evaluation of the fractions obtained showed that H. speciosa was ineffective against S. mansoni. However, the hexane fraction of the extract of mangaba is moderately effective against T. cruzi, demonstrating IC50 values of 31.71 μg mL-1. This is the first time the antiparasitic activity of H. speciosa has been described in the literature.