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1. Introduction
The Copaifera genus is characterized by shrubs or trees up to 40 meters high and sources of wood for the production of furniture and oleoresin (copaiba oil), extracted from its trunk, which has industrial applications. Species of Copaifera genus are mainly distributed in tropical America, with about 40 species, but are also present in tropical Africa with 4 species and in Asia, with 1 species, Copaifera palustris (Symington) De Wit, which is found in Malaysia [1, 2]. Popularly, the copaiba oil is used as anti-inflammatory and bactericidal. Some ethnopharmacological studies have suggested that Copaifera spp. oleoresins have antileishmanial activity [3–5].
Leishmaniasis is an endemic infectious disease in dozens of countries, including Brazil. The disease is caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania (family Trypanosomatidae), whose vector is the female phlebotomine sandfly. There are three types of clinical manifestations: cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral forms. The cutaneous form is the most common, frequently caused by Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica in Europe, Middle East, and Africa and by Leishmania braziliensis and Leishmania mexicana in Mexico, Central America, and South America [6]. Visceral leishmaniasis is frequently related to Leishmania donovani [7].
Conventional treatments with Glucantime, Pentostam, and Pentamidine are frequently ineffective [6]. Medicinal plants are important sources of new drugs and various studies have approached the incessant search for new therapeutic targets. Amaral et al. [8] described the effects of α-turmerone-rich hexane fraction from Curcuma longa against L. amazonensis promastigote forms. In that study, the entrapment of this hexane fraction into liposome lowered MIC values from 125 to 5.5 μg/mL. Studies evaluating the antileishmanial activity of the labdane diterpenoid andrographolide and its nanoformulations were also reported. The free form of this diterpenoid was able to inhibit the intracellular amastigotes of L. donovani at IC50 values of 160 and 141 μM, respectively. After andrographolide loading into nanoparticles (formulation prepared with 4% PVA), the antileishmanial activity was significantly improved when compared with the free drug (IC50 = 36 μM) [9].
In literature, there is little information on the relationship between chemical composition...