[
International Worm Meeting,
2021]
Neurodegenerative diseases (ND) are a public health problem, cause permanent disability and a high cost in health systems. People affected with Parkinson disease have protein deposits of alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn) in brain cells. The use of biological models such as Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) can answer questions that arise day by day for the development of new therapeutic targets for ND. The transgenic strain NL5901 of C. elegans is characterized to have alpha-syn aggregates labeled with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), which allows to evaluate compounds effect on the physiological characteristics and / or the reduction of protein aggregates alpha-syn in this model. On the other hand, Witheringia coccoloboides (W. coccoloboides) has been described as a promising plant in the palliative treatment of ND and therefore of interest in ethnopharmacology due to its possible neuroprotective action. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the ethanolic extract of leaves of W. coccoloboides on the physiological characteristics and protein aggregates of alpha-syn in the mutant strain NL5901 of C. elegans. The results of the present work show that the ethanolic extract of leaves of W. coccoloboides has a reducing effect of protein aggregates alpha-syn, improving the physiological characteristics of reproduction and motility, as well as, decreasing the levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in strain NL5901 of C. elegans. Therefore, it is possible to suggest that the ethanolic extract of leaves of W. coccoloboides has a protective effect on strain NL5901 of C. elegans, probably attributed to the presence of sterols and / or terpenes, flavonoids and alkaloids, which in turn, it is generate a recovery of muscular activity in the egg lay and locomotion, probably all linked, to synergistic interaction of the phytocompounds present in the ethanolic extract of leaves of W. Coccoloboides. Keywords: Witheringia coccoloboides, alpha-synuclein, Parkinson disease, Caenorhabditis elegans