ABSTRACT
Pouteria caimito (Sapotaceae) is widely distributed throughout Latin America, including Brazil. The yellow fruits, known as abiu, caimito, or abiurana, are eaten in natura or used to prepare desserts. In addition to being a commercially available Brazilian fruit, P. caimito has also been used as a traditional medicine. Therefore, hexane, ethanol, and aqueous extracts from its leaves were evaluated for radical-scavenging activity. Free radical-scavenging activity was tested using the DPPH assay. Total phenolic and proanthocyanidin contents were also determined. The aqueous extract comprised the highest total phenol and proanthocyanidin contents (173.6 g/mL) and showed the highest radical-scavenging activity (ED50= 36.1 g/mL). Phytochemical analysis of the hexane extract allowed the isolation of spinasterol. We found a high correlation between total phenolic and proanthocyanidin contents and radical-scavenging activity. To our knowledge, this is the first time spinasterol has been isolated from P. caimito leaves.
ABSTRACT
Foram selecionadas três plantas de um pomar comercial, com características agronômicas desejáveis, proveniente de propagação seminífera, que forneceram estacas herbáceas, contando com cerca de 15 cm de comprimento, um par de folhas no nó superior, corte em bisel na base e foram tratadas com 4 doses de IBA (0, 1.000, 3.000 e 5.000 mg.l-1) e, posteriormente, plantadas em caixas plásticas perfuradas contendo como substrato, vermiculita textura média. A condução do experimento foi em ambiente de 50 por cento de sombreamento, sob nebulização intermitente. A análise estatística foi em esquema fatorial 3X4, (genótipos X doses de IBA), com 4 repetições de 10 estacas cada. Após 90 dias foram avaliados a percentagem de enraizamento e sobrevivência, o comprimento e número médio de raízes por estaca. O IBA não influenciou as variáveis analisadas. O genótipo somente induziu mais raízes na seleção 3 e maiores raízes nas seleções 1 e 3.
Three plants from a commercial orchard Pouteria caimito were selected, with desirable agronomic characteristics, original of seed propagation, which provided the herbaceous branches. These ones were prepared with about 15 cm of length, a pair of leaves on the higher node and diagonal cut on the bottom, after that they were treated with four doses of indolbutiric acid (IBA) (0, 1,000, 3,000 and 5,000 mg.l-1) and, then, planted on perforated plastic boxes, containing as substrate, medium texture vermiculite. The conduction of the trial was on a 50 percent shade doses), with 4 replicates of 10 branches each. After 90 days the percentage of rooting and survival, the length and average number of roots per branch were evaluated. The IBA has not influenced the analysed variables. The genotype has only induced a higher number of roots on the selection 3 and higher root length on the selections 1 and 3.