Trypanocidal activity of limonoids and triterpenes from Cedrela fissilis.

Chagas' disease is an illness that affects millions of people in Central and South America. The search for both a prophylactic drug to be added to human blood as well as a safe and reliable therapeutic drug are greatly needed to control such disease. Herein, we report the trypanocidal activity of 15 crude extracts and 14 compounds (limonoids and triterpenes) as well as the isolation of 25 known compounds (6 limonoids, 12 triterpenes, 1 sesquiterpene, 5 steroids, and 1 flavonoid) from Cedrela fissilis. The present study shows that this plant is a promising source of active compounds for the control of Chagas' disease. The inhibitory activity found for odoratol indicates that it is potentially useful as an alternative for the chemoprophylactic gentian violet.