Caracterização química e atividade anti-helmíntica in vitro do citral e dos óleos essenciais de Cymbopogon citratus e Cymbopogon wynterianus sobre adultos de Fasciola hepatica.

Abstract

The parasite Fasciola hepatica is a trematode that affects the liver of cattle, sheep, wild animals and humans. It is responsible for large economic losses in several countries. Resistance in F. hepatica, mainly to triclabendazole, has stimulated the search for alternative products. The aim of this work was to evaluate the activity of the essential oil (EO) of Cymbopogon citratus (lemon grass), citral (neral + geranial) and Cymbopogon wynterianus (citronella) at 0.025 %, 0.05% and 0.1% (m v-1 ) on adult parasites of F. hepatica. EOs were extracted using a Clevenger type apparatus and citral was obtained commercially. The EOs and citral were characterized by gas chromatography (CG-DIC and CG-MS). Eight adults of F. hepatica were used for each group in individual Petri dishes and these were analyzed after three, twelve and fifteen hours. One sample of F. hepatica from each group was used for histological analysis. For the analysis of the data, the contingency table was used for the chi-square test. After 15 h of analysis, the EO of C. citratus and citral were found to inhibit the motility of F. hepatica at all concentrations tested and the EO of C. wynterianus inhibit the motility only at 0.05 and 0.1% (m v-1 ). It was observed that the treatments with EOs and citral promoted the loss of spines and one of the layers of the integument, except for the citral at 0.025% (m v-1 )