FIG. 5.
HPTLC analysis of the synthesis of isoprenoids in the presence of nerolidol. (A) Hexane extracts from L. amazonensis promastigotes incubated in the absence (C) or in the presence of 30 μM nerolidol (N) and metabolically labeled with [1-14C]acetic acid were separated by HPTLC. The position of the authentic standards ran in the same plate is shown (E, ergosterol; G, geraniol; F, farnesol; D11 and D12, dolichol of 11 and 12 isoprene units; Q, mixture of standards of CoQ7-10). Identical numbers of cells were used to prepare the extracts loaded in each lane. Exposure time, 4 weeks. (B) The upper region of the plate after 8 weeks of exposure. The arrow indicates bands with Rf values equivalent to the ubiquinone standards. (C) Counts measured for radioactive spots, scanned after 10 days of exposure in a phosphor screen, for the nerolidol-treated sample (N) and control parasites (C) and the calculated percentage of inhibition (%).