Physalis angulata induces death of promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis via the generation of reactive oxygen species

• We showed for the first time one possible mechanism of action of Physalis angulata against the Leishmania protozoa.
• P. angulata induced increased production of ROS and death by apoptosis in promastigotes of L. (L.) amazonensis.
• P. angulata can modulate macrophage activation through cytoskeleton alterations and O2− generation by microscopy techniques.
• Activation induced by P. angulata was able to promote the Leishmania death.

Leishmaniasis are a neglected group of emerging diseases that have been found in 98 countries and are caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania. The therapy for leishmaniasis causes several side effects and leads to drug-resistant strains. Natural products from plants have exhibited activities against Leishmania in various experimental models. Physalis angulata is a widely used plant in popular medicine, and in the literature it has well-documented leishmanicidal activity. However, its mechanism of action is still unknown. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the mechanism driving the leishmanicidal activity of an aqueous extract of P. angulata root (AEPa). AEPa was effective against both promastigotes and intracellular amastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis. This effect was mediated by an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), but not of nitric oxide (NO). The increased production of ROS induces cell death by phenotypes seems by apoptosis cell death in Leishmania, but not autophagy or necrosis. In addition, morphological analysis of macrophages showed that AEPa induced a high number of cytoplasmic projections, increased the volume of cytoplasm and number of vacuoles, caused cytoskeleton alterations and resulted in high spreading ability. AEPa also promoted superoxide anion (O2−) production in both uninfected macrophages and those infected with Leishmania. Therefore, these results revealed that AEPa causes cell death by phenotypes seems by apoptosis cell death in L. amazonensis and modulates macrophage activation through morphofunctional alterations and O2− generation to induce Leishmania death.