{
  "abstract": "Giardiasis is a parasitic disease for which there is a growing need to develop new therapeutic alternatives due to the adverse effects associated with first-line treatments such as metronidazole and the increasing emergence of resistant strains. In this study, the in vitro antigiardial activity of three quassinoids, chaparrin (1), amarolide (2), and chaparrinone (3), isolated from the stems of Castela tortuosa Liebm., was evaluated. The compounds were obtained from the methanolic extract through fractionation and chromatographic purification, and their antigiardial activity was determined against Giardia lamblia trophozoites. In addition, in silico studies were conducted to evaluate their physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, and toxicological properties, as well as molecular docking studies against actin, aldose reductase (ARL), and pyruvate: ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFOR). Chaparrinone (3) exhibited the highest antigiardial activity, with an IC50 18.98 μg mL−1, whereas chaparrin (1) and amarolide (3) showed lower activity. Amarolide (2) exhibited the highest binding affinities toward the molecular targets, while chaparrin (1) showed the most favorable overall toxicological/ADME profile. Taken together, these findings highlight chaparrinone (3) as a quassinoid of interest for the development of new antigiardial agents and support the need for further enzymatic, pharmacokinetic, and in vivo studies to more precisely determine its therapeutic potential.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Laboratorio de Productos Naturales, Área de Química, Departamento de Preparatoria Agrícola, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Chapingo 56230, Mexico",
    "Unidad de Investigación Médica en Farmacología, UMAE Hospital de Especialidades, 2° Piso CORSE Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, IMSS, Ciudad de Mexico 06720, Mexico",
    "Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de Mexico 07738, Mexico",
    "Laboratorio de Inmunología, Departamento de Sistemas Biológicos, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco, Calz. del Hueso 1100, Coapa, Villa Quietud, Coyoacán, Ciudad de Mexico 04960, Mexico",
    "Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán 04510, Mexico"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ulises Murrieta-Dionicio",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1041-4090"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Fernando Calzada",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1851-5988"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Elizabeth Barbosa",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7111-7922"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Miguel Valdes",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7401-303X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jesica Ramirez-Santos",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2673-4366"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Benito Reyes-Trejo",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9330-2646"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Holber Zuleta-Prada",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6372-2885"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Lino Reyes"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/91xs8fmbyz3e4.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/ijms27198733",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13665569",
  "id": "91xs8fmbyz3e4",
  "issns": [
    "1422-0067"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/19/8733",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Phytochemical compounds biological activities"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214912456",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13665569?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13665569",
  "pmid": "42883978",
  "published": "2026-09-30",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/91xs8fmbyz3e4.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:55Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/ijms27198733",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/19/8733"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42883978",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883978"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1312|Phytochemical compounds biological activities",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "In Vitro Antigiardial Activity and In Silico Target Exploration of Quassinoids Isolated from Castela tortuosa Liebm.",
  "title_text": "In Vitro Antigiardial Activity and In Silico Target Exploration of Quassinoids Isolated from Castela tortuosa Liebm.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/91xs8fmbyz3e4",
  "venue": "International Journal of Molecular Sciences",
  "versions": []
}