Dormancy break in seeds of quina (Strychnos pseudoquina A. St.-Hil.) / Superação da dormência de sementes de quina (Strychnos pseudoquina A. St.-Hil.)

"Quina" (Strychnos pseudoquina A. St. Hil) is a medicinal plant species from the Brazilian Cerrado. As its seeds show dormancy, they were subjected to the treatments pre-cooling at 5ºC during 7 days, pre-heating at 40ºC during 7 days, pre-soaking in sulfuric acid PA during 5 and 15 min, pre-soaking in boiling water during 5 and 15 min, pre-soaking in 100 and 200 ppm gibberellic acid during 48 h, pre-soaking in distilled water during 24 and 48 h, and mechanical scarification to break dormancy. Counts were daily conducted from the 2nd day after the experiment implementation until the germination stabilization at the 65th day. The germination speed index (GSI) and the germination percentage were evaluated. Germination rates above 96 percent were reached in seeds pre-soaked in water during 48 h and substrate moistened with water or KNO3.

A quina (Strychnos pseudoquina A. St.-Hil) é espécie medicinal do Cerrado Brasileiro. As sementes apresentam dormência e, por isso, foram submetidas aos tratamentos pré-resfriamento a 5ºC durante 7 dias, pré-aquecimento a 40ºC durante 7 dias, pré-embebição em ácido sulfúrico P.A. durante 5 e 15 minutos, pré-embebição em água fervente durante 5 e 15 minutos, pré-embebição em ácido giberélico a 100 e 200 ppm, durante 48 horas, pré-embebição em água destilada durante 24 e 48 horas e escarificação mecânica, visando à superação da dormência. Foram realizadas contagens diárias entre o 2º dia após a implantação do experimento até a estabilização da germinação, que ocorreu no 65º dia. Foram avaliados o índice de velocidade de germinação (IVG) e a porcentagem de germinação. Taxas de germinação acima de 96 por cento foram atingidas em sementes pré-embebidas em água durante 48 horas e substrato umedecido com água ou KNO3.

Loganiáceas: da toxicologia ao repertório / Loganiaceous: from toxicology to repertory

Com o grupo dos medicamentos homeopáticos derivados de Loganiáceas, este artigo discute as possíveis relações entre o conhecimento toxicológico e potenciais núcleos sintomáticos desses medicamentos, resultantes da experimentação patogenética homeopática. A perspectiva toxicológica aponta consistentemente para expressões sintomatológicas derivadas da ação dos alcalóides componentes de todas as plantas desta família, estricnina e, secundariamente, estricnina. A análise comparativa, com ajuda do repertório homeopático, permite identificar, não somente núcleos sintomáticos comuns a uma família ou grupo de medicamentos, mas também as diferenças específicas de cada um dos membros, contribuindo assim no diagnóstico de individualização mórbida, na base da prescrição homeopática.

By taking the group of homeopathic remedies derived from Loganiaceae, this article discusses the possible relations between toxicological knowledge and the potential symptomatic nuclei of these remedies, as resulting from homeopathic pathogenetic trials. The toxicological perspective consistently points out to symptomatic expressions derived from the action of the alkaloid components of all the plants belonging to this family, strychnine and secondarily brucine. The comparative analysis, with the help of the homeopathic repertory, allows to identify not only symptomatic nuclei common to a family or group of remedies, but also the specific differences that distinguish each of its members, contributing in this way to the diagnosis of individual disease, which lays at the ground of homeopathic prescription.

Anthelmintic efficacy of extracts of Spigelia anthelmia Linn on experimental Nippostrongylus braziliensis in rats

Spigelia anthelmia Linn is used as a herb and is a common annual weed of cultivation in open re-growths, on unused land in towns as well as on road sides. The plant can grow to approximately 30 cm in height. The aim of this study was to screen extracts of Spigelia anthelmia for their anthelmintic activity against an experimental Nippostrongylus braziliensis infection in rats. Acute oral toxicity occurred at a dose of 1,140 mg/kg, while anthelmintic trials against Nippostrongylus braziliensis in rats using the aqueous fraction showed a progressive decrease in worm count with increasing dose (10, 13, 16, 20 and 25 mg per kg body weight) (p < 0.05). At 25 mg per kg body weight, the worm count was significantly lower than that at 10 mg per kg body weight (p < 0.05).

Preliminary assays indicate that Antonia ovata (Loganiaceae) and Derris amazonica (Papilionaceae), ichthyotoxic plants used for fishing in Roraima, Brazil, have an insecticide effect on Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae)

Laboratory-reared Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz and Neiva 1912) was tested with extracts of two ichthyotoxic plants, known as timbós, used as fishing poison in the Amazon. Phlebotomines, L. longipalpis, and plants, Antonia ovata and Derris amazonica, were collected in the Raposa-Serra do Sol Indian Reserve, a focus of visceral leishmaniasis in the State of Roraima, Brazil. Extracts were prepared from dried leaves of A. ovata and roots of D. amazonica that were percolated in water, filtered and dried out at 50°C. The solid extract obtained was diluted in water at 150, 200 and 250 mg/ml. The solution was blotted in filter paper placed at the bottom of cylindric glass tubes containing sand flies. For each plant extract and dilution, two series of triplicates with 5 male and 5 female specimens of L. longipalpis were used. Mortality was recorded every 2 h during 72 h of exposure. At 72 h the mortality was as high as 80 percent for extracts of A. ovata (LD50 = 233 mg/ ml), and 100 percent for D. amazonica (LD50 = 212 mg/ ml) whereas in the control groups maximum mortality never surpassed 13 percent. Preliminary assays indicated that A. ovata and D. amazonica displayed significant insecticide effect against L. longipalpis