Padronização de testes com compostos naturais utilizando Caenorhabditis elegans como modelo

Abstract

Parasitic nematodes can cause damages worth 35 billion a year to agriculture, as the Brazilian Society of Nematology (SBN) estimates. Nematode control in agriculture is made by employing methods of crop rotation and destruction of infested plants. Nematicides are used to control nematodes in humans and animals. Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living nematode, found in organic matter present in the soil. It has 40% of the genes with orthologs for human diseases and similarity with parasitic nematodes. Due to its characteristics it has been used as a biological model in research in molecular biology, neuroscience and toxicology. In order to standardize tests with the biological model C. elegans, extracts of yerba mate Ilex paraguariensis were used. Worm motility in all life stages was evaluated in defined time periods: 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h and 24h. Individual survival of the worms after adding the extracts. New bioactive compounds can be developed from the extraction of secondary products from plants and other organisms, aiding in the development of nematicides, and C. elegans can be used as a biomonitor in soil and aquatic environments.