RESUMO
ABSTRACT In general, Passiflora species have been reported for their folk medicinal use as sedative and anti-inflammatory. However, P. caerulea has already been reported to treat pulmonary diseases. Severe pulmonary tuberculosis, generally caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to multiple drugs, can lead to deleterious inflammation and high mortality, encouraging new approaches in drug discovery. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the Passiflora mucronata Lam., Passifloraceae, potential for tuberculosis treatment. Specifically, related to antimycobacterial activity and anti-inflammatory related effects (based on inhibition of nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-alpha production and antioxidant potential), as well as the chemical profile of P. mucronata. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array ultraviolet and mass spectrometer analyses of crude hydroalcoholic extract and ethyl acetate fraction showed the presence of flavonoids. Ethyl acetate fraction showed to be as antioxidant as Ginkgo biloba standard extract with EC50 of 14.61 ± 1.25 µg/ml. One major flavonoid isolated from ethyl acetate fraction was characterized as isoorientin. The hexane fraction and its main isolated compound, the triterpene β-amyrin, exhibited significant growth inhibitory activity against Mycobacterium bovis BCG (MIC50 1.61 ± 1.43 and 3.93 ± 1.05 µg/ml, respectively). In addition, Passiflora mucronata samples, specially hexane and dichloromethane fractions, as well as pure β-amyrin, showed a dose-related inhibition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide production. In conclusion, Passiflora mucronata presented relevant biological potential and should be considered for further studies using in vivo pulmonary tuberculosis model.
RESUMO
Introducción: La preeclampsia es una complicación del embarazo que puede comprometer tanto la vida de la madre, como la del bebé. Existen diferentes factores etiológicos para el desarrollo de la preeclampsia, incluidos las infecciones crónicas. La Enfermedad Periodontal, como infección crónica, recientemente ha sido asociada con la aparición de la preeclampsia. Objetivo: Realizar una revisión de la literatura, para constatar la posible asociación entre Enfermedad Periodontal (EP) y Preeclampsia. Métodos y Materiales: Búsqueda en las bases de datos de la red de publicaciones científicas con el fin de revisar los estudios reportados a partir de 1996 hasta 2007, para evaluar la posible asociación entre EP y Preeclampsia. Resultados: Se encontraron 11 estudios y se evaluaron sus diseños y sus resultados. Conclusiones: De esta revisión se concluye que existen muy pocos estudios dirigidos a evaluar la presencia de EP y la incidencia de Preeclampsia. Los estudios evaluados muestran resultados contradictorios lo que se puede deber a los diferentes diseños de los estudios ya que se encontró falta de unificación en los criterios de inclusión en los estudios, falta de unificación en los criterios de diagnóstico para la EP y el tamaño de la muestra es muy diferente según el tipo de estudio. Se necesitan más estudios de intervención, en los cuales se demuestre que al realizar un control o eliminación de la EP, las complicaciones del embarazo descritas anteriormente disminuyen, para reafirmar o descartar esas posibles asociaciones.
Introduction: Preeclampsia is a complication of pregnancy that can threaten both the life of the mother as the baby. There are different etiological factors for the development of preeclampsia, including chronic infections. Periodontal disease as a chronic infection has recently been associated with the onset of preeclampsia. Objective: To review the literature with the purpose of determine the possible association between periodontal disease (PD) and Preeclampsia. Methods and Materials: Database search of scientific publications in order to review studies reported from 1996 to 2007 to assess the possible association between PD and Preeclampsia. Results: There were evaluated designs and results of 11 scientific articles. Conclusions: This review concluded that there are very few studies to evaluate the presence of PD and the incidence of preeclampsia. The evaluated studies show conflicting results which may be due to the different designs of the studies, lack of unification among inclusion criteria between them, lack of standardization in diagnostics criteria for PD, and the sample size is very different depending on the type of study. More intervention studies are needed to demonstrate that controlling or eliminating PD, the previously described complications of pregnancy are minimized, in order to affirm or refute these possible associations.