Screening of six medicinal plant species for antileishmanial activity

Toxicological profile of the Hymenaea courbaril stem bark hydroalcoholic extract using in vitro bioassays and an alternative in vivo Caenorhabditis elegans model

Hymenaea genus has been used in folk medicine in Brazil, but few studies investigated its toxicity profile. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine toxicological parameters of Hymenaea courbaril stem bark hydroalcoholic extract by utilizing three cell lines including murine macrophages (RAW 264.7), mouse fibroblast cells (L929) and human lung fibroblast (MRC-5), as well as Salmonella/microsome assay, and in vivo Caenorhabditis elegans model. The predominant detected phytoconstituents in the extract were coumarins, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins and saponins and by HPLC analysis, astilbin (AST) was found to be the main component. The DPPH assay demonstrated that H. courbaril hydroalcoholic extract exhibited potent antioxidant activity, with an IC50 of 3.12 μg/ml. The extract at concentrations of 400 and 800 μg/ml decreased cell viability 48 hr after treatment in L929 and MRC-5 cell lines. In the Raw 264.7 strain, just the highest concentration (800 μg/ml) lowered cell viability within 48 hr following exposure. The concentration of 100 μg/ml did not markedly affect cell viability in the trypan blue assay. In the alkaline comet assay the extract was found to be non-genotoxic. In the Ames test, the extract exhibited low mutagenic potential without metabolic activation, since only the highest concentrations produced an effect. H. courbaril extract only affected the survival of C. elegans at concentrations of 800 and 1600 μl/ml. These findings demonstrate that H. courbaril extract appears to exert low toxicity as evidenced in vitro and mutagenicity assays; however, the biological relevance of the response of C. elegans survival to safety assessments needs further studies.

Underexploited Brazilian Cerrado fruits as sources of phenolic compounds for diseases management: A review

The Brazilian Cerrado is home to a large number of native and endemic species of enormous potential, among which we can highlight the cagaita, gabiroba, jatobá-do-cerrado, lobeira, and mangaba. In this review, we report the nutritional and phenolic composition, as well as bioactivities of these five Brazilian Cerrado fruits. The compiled data indicated that these fruits have high nutritional, functional, and economic potential and contribute to the daily intake of macro- and micronutrients, energy, and phenolic compounds by inhabitants of the Cerrado region. Phenolic-rich extracts obtained from these fruits have shown several bioactivities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidyslipidemic, antidiabetic, analgesic, anticarcinogenic, hepatoprotective, gastrointestinal protective, and antimicrobial properties. Therefore, these fruits can be explored by the food industry as a raw material to develop food products of high value-added, such as functional foods, and can also be employed as plant sources to obtain bioactive compounds for food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical purposes.