{"id":1028,"date":"2020-09-02T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T18:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2023-03-29T14:09:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T17:09:36","slug":"bufotenine-and-new-perspectives-for-the-treatment-of-rabies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/2020\/09\/02\/bufotenine-and-new-perspectives-for-the-treatment-of-rabies\/","title":{"rendered":"Bufotenine and new perspectives for the treatment of rabies"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hugo Vigerelli, Postdoctoral researcher Laboratory of Genetics, and\u00a0Daniel Carvalho Pimenta, Scientific researcher VI, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Butantan Institute, S\u00e3o Paulo, SP, Brazil<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The article \u201cBufotenine, a tryptophan-derived alkaloid, suppresses the symptoms and increases the survival rate of rabies-infected mice: the development of a pharmacological approach for rabies treatment<\/a>\u201d, published in the Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases<\/em> (vol. 26), presents the biological effect of bufotenine \u2013 a rather common alkaloid found in many organisms \u2013 over rabies, an ancient yet uncurable disease. The study was carried out by researchers at the Butantan Institute, in collaboration with the Brazilian Pasteur Institute, a world reference in the diagnosis of rabies. This project, conducted between 2016 and 2018, was a consequence of a previous observation by the same group that bufotenine was able to inhibit rabies virus infection in cell culture models. The next step was to test this hypothesis in animal models. Therefore, the study revealed that not only bufotenine delays the onset of rabies symptoms, but it also significantly increases the survival rate of infected animals. It is noteworthy to mention that we are not proposing bufotenine as the medicine or drug for the treatment of this disease. However, we highlight the potential that this alkaloid presents to study the biological and molecular mechanisms of the etiology of rabies and possibility of it becoming a scaffold for the development of new synthetic molecules that would eventually become medicines against rabies.<\/p>\n

The project was carried out by Hugo Vigerelli who, during his masters and doctorate projects, investigated the effects of bufotenine in rabies infection models, supervised by Daniel Carvalho Pimenta, a scientific researcher at the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Biophysics in Butantan Institute. Hugo and Daniel stablished a partnership between the Butantan Institute (their headquarters, where they conducted all the biochemical steps required for the isolation and characterization of both amphibian and plant seed bufotenine), with the Brazilian Pasteur Institute, a reference in rabies virus research and diagnosis.<\/p>\n

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Image adapted from the original by Smart \u2013 Servier Medical Art by Servier<\/a>.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Figure 1.<\/strong> Subcutaneous inoculation of bufotenine is able to increase the survival rate of intracerebrally virus-infected mice from 15 to 40%<\/p>\n

Rabies is a disease that is present in more than 150 countries and territories, causing the death of 40,000 to 70,000 people every year. Although it is an antique disease, it remains uncurable. Our results show that bufotenine is capable of inhibiting different variants of the virus (in cell cultures), being effective over both laboratory and street viruses, an important result since laboratory viruses may lose some virulence factors. Animal experiments have shown that bufotenine is able to delay the onset of symptoms, a very significant finding, since current rabies treatment protocols consist of keeping the patients alive as long as possible, so that their immune system becomes able to fight the virus.<\/p>\n

Currently, our group aims to understand the mechanism of action of bufotenine. In order to achieve this goal, we have already conducted studies on its biodistribution and behavioral effects so that we could determine a good dose and evaluate possible side effects. We are also investigating the immunological effect of bufotenine on the central nervous system, as well as its direct effects on neuron cells. In addition, we are exploring the effect of different synthetic molecules similar to bufotenine, in the search for new molecules that could, in the future, become a medicine for rabies.<\/p>\n

References<\/h3>\n

CUNHA NETO, R.S., et al<\/em>. Synergic effects between ocellatin-F1 and bufotenine on the inhibition of BHK-21 cellular infection by the rabies virus. J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl. Trop. Dis<\/em> [online]. 2015, vol. 21, 50, ISSN: 1678-9199 [viewed 2 September 2020]. DOI: 10.1186\/s40409-015-0048-1<\/a>. Available from: http:\/\/ref.scielo.org\/wcc6jn<\/a><\/p>\n

VIGERELLI, H., et al<\/em>. Bufotenine is able to block rabies virus infection in BHK-21 cells. J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl. Trop. Dis<\/em> [online]. 2014, vol. 20, 45, ISSN: 1678-9199 [viewed 2 September 2020]. DOI: 10.1186\/1678-9199-20-45<\/a>. Available from: http:\/\/ref.scielo.org\/67fqfs<\/a><\/p>\n

VIGERELLI, H., et al<\/em>. Biological effects and biodistribution of bufotenine on mice. Biomed Res Int<\/em>. [online]. 2018, 1032638, ISSN: 2314-6141 [viewed 2 September 2020]. DOI: 10.1155\/2018\/1032638<\/a>. Available from: https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6000854\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Rabies [online]. World Health Organization. 2020 [viewed 2 September 2020]. Available from:\u00a0https:\/\/www.who.int\/health-topics\/rabies#tab=tab_1<\/a><\/p>\n

To read the article, access it<\/h3>\n

VIGERELLI, H., et al<\/em>. Bufotenine, a tryptophan-derived alkaloid, suppresses the symptoms and increases the survival rate of rabies-infected mice: the development of a pharmacological approach for rabies treatment. J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl. Trop. Dis<\/em> [online]. 2020, vol. 26, e20190050, ISSN: 1678-9199 [viewed 2 September 2020]. DOI: 10.1590\/1678-9199-jvatitd-2019-0050<\/a>. Available from: http:\/\/ref.scielo.org\/2by285<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

External links<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Curr\u00edculo Lattes \u2013 Daniel Carvalho Pimenta <http:\/\/lattes.cnpq.br\/2791913950833163<\/a>><\/p>\n

Curr\u00edculo Lattes \u2013 Hugo Vigerelli de Barros <http:\/\/lattes.cnpq.br\/0831598428009566<\/a>><\/p>\n

Facebook \u2013 Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases <https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JVATiTD<\/a>><\/p>\n

Instituto Butantan <http:\/\/www.butantan.gov.br\/<\/a>><\/p>\n

Instituto Pasteur <http:\/\/www.saude.sp.gov.br\/instituto-pasteur\/<\/a>><\/p>\n

Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases <http:\/\/www.jvat.org\/<\/a>><\/p>\n

Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases \u2013 JVATITD <http:\/\/www.scielo.br\/jvatitd<\/a>><\/p>\n

LinkedIn \u2013 Daniel Pimenta <https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/daniel-pimenta-b031701b1\/<\/a>><\/p>\n

LinkedIn \u2013 Hugo Vigerelli <www.linkedin.com\/in\/hugo-vigerelli-a64a3a87<\/a>><\/p>\n

P\u00f3s-Gradua\u00e7\u00e3o em Toxinologia \u2013 Instituto Butantan <http:\/\/posgraduacao.butantan.gov.br\/<\/a>><\/p>\n

Research Gate \u2013 Daniel Pimenta <https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Daniel_Pimenta<\/a>><\/p>\n

Research Gate \u2013 Hugo Vigerelli <https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Hugo_Vigerelli<\/a>><\/p>\n

Research Gate Project \u2013 Amphibian Toxinology <https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/project\/Amphibian-Toxinology<\/a>><\/p>\n

Research Gate Project \u2013 Rabies <https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/project\/Rabies-16<\/a>><\/p>\n

Twitter \u2013 Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases <https:\/\/twitter.com\/JVATiTD<\/a>><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Currently, rabies remains almost 100% fatal due to the lack of specific treatment. Bufotenine \u2013 an alkaloid present in some frogs\u2019 skin secretions as well as in plant seeds \u2013 has been shown to be effective in reducing either the onset of symptoms or the mortality in mice. …<\/span> Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":1030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,120,12],"tags":[121,206],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-sciences","category-jvatitd","category-press-releases","tag-journal-of-venomous-animals-and-toxins-including-tropical-diseases","tag-veterinary-medicine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1033,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.scielo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}