2.1 Vegetal material and extract preparation
Leaves from S. marginata were collected in February 2011 in an area of Cerrado in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil (longitude of 55°19′24.9″ W, and an altitude of 429 m). The dried (500 g) and pulverized leaves were extracted by percolation at room temperature with EtOH/H2O (7:3, v/v). The hydroalcoholic extract was filtered, concentrated under vacuum (± 40 °C), and lyophilized (yield: 33% w/w). The phytochemical analysis of EESM was performed by Heredia-Vieira et al. (2015).
2.2 Chemical reagents
Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA), dexamethasone (DEXA), isoniazid, and carrageenan were brought from Sigma-Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA). Ketamine and xylasine were obtained from Syntec (Santana de Paraíba, SP, Brazil). BCG was obtained from Fundação Ataulpho de Paiva (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and other reagents were acquired from other suppliers.
2.3 In vitro antimycobacterial and antibacterial activity
The in vitro antimycobacterial activity was performed according to Palomino et al. (2002). The EESM was dissolved in 5% of DMSO in a solution of pure water and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for EESM was assayed at range of 0.98 – 250 μg/ml and for isoniazid between 0.004 – 1 μg/ml in the presence of the M. tuberculosis strain H37Rv (ATCC27294).
The in vitro antibacterial activity methodology was performed according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards 2002 and Campos e cols, 2014. The EESM was dissolved in 5% of tween 80 in a solution of pure water and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for EESM was assayed at 8.125, 16.25, 32.5, 75, 125, 250, 500, 1000 μg/ml. Bacterial cultures (Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 700603, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, and S. epidermidis ATCC 12228) will be activated through subcultures on Mueller-Hinton agar for 24 h at 37 °C.
After activation and/or subculture, the bacterial inoculum will be standardized, which consisted of the preparation of a bacterial suspension in sterile saline, standardized on the McFarland 0.5 da scale (1 x 108 CFU/ml) and diluted 1:10 also in saline (1 x 107 CFU/ml). After dilution, 10 µL volumes will be transferred to the sterile microplate wells, containing a final volume of 100 µL of Mueller-Hinton broth plus the different final concentrations of EESM, resulting in a final inoculum of approximately 10 x 105 CFU/ml and later taken to greenhouse at 37 ºC for 24 h. The MICs (minimum inhibitory concentrations) in microdilution will be determined by reading in a spectrophotometer at 610 nm in a microplate observing the lowest concentration in which the EESM will completely inhibit microbial growth (National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards 2002; Campos et al., 2014).
2.4 Animals, control drugs’ administration, EESM dilution and doses for in vivo experiments
Female and male Swiss (28 – 32 g) and C57BL/6 mice (25 – 30 g) were provided by the central biotherium at the Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD). Animals were kept in polypropylene boxes in a sectorial Biotherium at Faculty of Health Sciences at UFGD with the following conditions: 22 °C, in the presence of a 12 h light/dark cycle, with food and water ad libitum. The EESM was dissolved in saline solution (0.9 %) and the dose was calculated according to mice weight. Vehicle solution is the saline solution since it was used to dissolve the EESM. The EESM oral administration (p.o.) doses used in the carrageenan-induced paw inflammation and pleurisy were 30, 100 and 300 mg/kg to verify if the EESM presents a dose-response profile. As the doses of 30 and 100 mg/kg of EESM were effective against inflammatory parameters, these doses were tested also against BCG-induced pleurisy and CFA-induced inflammatory reaction. To verify the inhibitory efficacy of the commercial drugs, the dose of 1 mg/kg (by subcutaneous route – s.c.) of dexamethasone was used as control group in in vivo models while the dose of 25 mg/kg (p.o.) of isoniazid was used in BCG model.
2.5 Paw edema, mechanical and cold hyperalgesia evaluation in carrageenan induced paw inflammation
The male Swiss mice were distributed in five experimental groups (n = 6) and one hour before the carrageenan injection, they were treated (p.o.) with 30, 100 and 300 mg/kg of EESM, with the vehicle and dexamethasone (1 mg/kg, s.c.). Subsequently, the animals received a subcutaneous injection (100 μL) of a solution containing 300 μg of carrageenan (Winter et al., 1962) dissolved in sterile 0.9 % saline in the right hind paw. The contralateral paw, which was used as a control, received 100 μL of saline. Paw edema was analyzed using a plethysmometer (Panlab, Spain) at 1, 2 and 4 h after injection. In addition, mechanical hyperalgesia was assessed using an electronic version of the von Frey test (Analgesimeter von frey, InSight) and cold sensitivity was analyzed with the acetone drop test (Decosterd and Woolf, 2000) at 3 and 4 h after carrageenan injection.
2.6 Leukocyte migration and protein analysis in pleural exudate collected from carrageenan induced pleurisy
Female Swiss mice were distributed in five experimental groups (n = 6) and one hour before the pleurisy, they were treated (p.o.) with 30, 100 and 300 mg/kg of EESM, with the vehicle and dexamethasone (1 mg/kg, s.c.). Subsequently, with the aid of an adapted needle, 100 μL of carrageenan (containing 100 μg) was injected into the right side of the animals' chest cavity to induce inflammation (Vinegar et al., 1973). Four hours after the injection of carrageenan, the animals were euthanized (100 mg/kg of ketamine and 10 mg/kg of xylasine by intraperitoneal route (i.p.)) and, afterwards, the exudate was collected by washing the chest cavity with 1 mL of phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Having made the collection, the total number of leukocytes in the exudate was determined by the KX-21N Sysmex apparatus and the protein exudation was evaluated by the Bradford reaction, using the commercially available Bradford kit (Bioagency, São Paulo, Brazil).
2.7 Leukocyte migration, Il-1β dosage and CFU growth in BCG-induced pleurisy model
Groups of six male C57BL/6 mice were treated orally with EESM (30 or 100 mg/kg), isoniazid (25 mg/kg), saline solution (0.9 %; control group) and saline solution (0.9 %; naive group). Pleurisy was induced 1 h after the previous treatment with an intrapleural injection with 0.1 mL of a suspension of BCG (4 X 105 colony forming units (CFU) into the right pleural cavity. In the naïve group, instead of a BCG injection, the mice received a saline injection in the pleural space. The animals were treated orally with EESM, isoniazid, saline solution (0.9 %) once daily for 7 days (Andrade-Silva et al., 2016). After 7 days, the animals were euthanized (100 mg/kg of ketamine and 10 mg/kg of xylasine, i.p.) and the pleural cavity was washed with 1 ml of sterile phosphate buffered saline. The washed sample of 50 µL was diluted with Evans blue to determine the total number of leukocytes. The rest of the sample was centrifuged, and the supernatant was stored for the Il-1β measurements using ELISA. The blood was also collected from each animal for Il-1β measurements. The precipitate was suspended in 0.5 mL of sterile ultrapure water and 0.1 mL of Ogawa Kudu, and 0.1 mL of the suspension was plated onto 7H11 agar. The spleen and liver were macerated with 1 mL of sterile saline solution, and 0.1 mL of the suspension was plated on 7H11 agar. The cells were cultured for 60 days at 37°C in 5% CO2 (Kassuya et al., 2020).
2.8 Paw edema, mechanical and cold hyperalgesia evaluation in CFA induced paw inflammation for 22 days
Groups of six male C57BL/6 mice were treated with vehicle (control group), EESM (30 and 100 mg/kg, p.o.), and dexamethasone 1 mg/kg (s.c., the positive control group) every day, once a day for 22 days. After the first treatment, the animals received 30 μL of Freund's complete adjuvant (CFA) (oil suspension containing inactive M.tuberculosis) via intraplantar injection in the right paw. Mechanical and cold sensitivity and paw edema were measured 6, 11, 16 and 22 days after the injection of CFA.
2.9 Statistical analysis
The data are presented as the mean ± standard error (SEM). The determination of significant differences among groups was made via one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Newman-Keuls test was chosen as a post hoc (GraphPad Prism Software). The percentage of inhibition was calculated from the control group. Differences were considered to be significant when p < 0.05.