ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Medicinal plants have traditionally been used in many parts of the world as alternative medicine. Many extracts and essential oils isolated from plants have disclosed biological activity, justifying the investigation of their potential antimicrobial activity. In this study, the in vitro antifungal activity of six Brazilian Cerrado medicinal plant species were evaluated against clinically relevant Candida species. METHODS: The crude extract plants were evaluated against American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) standard strains of Candida spp. using disk diffusion method and determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The chemical study results were confirmed by HPLC method. RESULTS: All six plant species showed antifungal activity. Among the species studied, Eugenia dysenterica and Pouteria ramiflora showed significant inhibitory activity against C. tropicalis at lowest MIC value of 125 and 500 µg/disc, respectively. The Eugenia dysenterica also disclosed MIC value of 125 µg/disc against C. famata, 250 µg/disc against C. krusei and 500 µg/disc against C. guilliermondii and C. parapsilosis. Pouteria torta, Bauhinia rufa, Erythroxylum daphnites and Erythroxylum subrotundum showed activity against the yeast strains with MIC value of 1000 µg/disc. The chemical study of the most bioactive extracts of Eugenia dysenterica and Pouteria ramiflora revealed catechin derivatives and flavonoids as main components. CONCLUSIONS: All six evaluated plant species showed good antifungal potential against several Candida strains. However, E .dysenterica and P. ramiflora showed the higher inhibitory effect against the non-albicans Candida species. Our results may contribute to the continuing search of new natural occurring products with antifungal activity.
Subject(s)
Antifungal Agents/pharmacology , Candida/drug effects , Eugenia/chemistry , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Plants, Medicinal/chemistry , Pouteria/chemistry , Antifungal Agents/chemistry , Brazil , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Plant Extracts/chemistryABSTRACT
The increased amount of melanin leads to skin disorders such as age spots, freckles, melasma and malignant melanoma. Tyrosinase is known to be the key enzyme in melanin production. Plants and their extracts are inexpensive and rich resources of active compounds that can be utilized to inhibit tyrosinase as well as can be used for the treatment of dermatological disorders associated with melanin hyperpigmentation. Using in vitro tyrosinase inhibitory activity assay, extracts from 13 plant species from Brazilian Cerrado were evaluated. The results showed that Pouteria torta and Eugenia dysenterica extracts presented potent in vitro tyrosinase inhibition compared to positive control kojic acid. Ethanol extract of Eugenia dysenterica leaves showed significant (p<0.05) tyrosinase inhibitory activity exhibiting the IC50 value of 11.88 µg/mL, compared to kojic acid (IC50 value of 13.14 µg/mL). Pouteria torta aqueous extract leaves also showed significant inhibitory activity with IC50 value of 30.01 µg/mL. These results indicate that Pouteria torta and Eugenia dysenterica extracts and their isolated constituents are promising agents for skin-whitening or antimelanogenesis formulations.
Subject(s)
Ecosystem , Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology , Monophenol Monooxygenase/antagonists & inhibitors , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Plants/chemistry , Brazil , Enzyme Inhibitors/adverse effects , Enzyme Inhibitors/therapeutic use , Hyperpigmentation/drug therapy , Hyperpigmentation/metabolism , Melanins/metabolism , Plant Extracts/adverse effects , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , SafetyABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus is the most common disease in the world. One therapeutic approach for treating diabetes is inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities to reduce postprandial blood glucose levels. In vitro tests showed that several plant extracts from Brazilian cerrado species can inhibit the activity of α-amylase and α-glucosidase. The extracts of Eugenia dysenterica, Stryphnodendron adstringens, Pouteria caimito, Pouteria ramiflora, and Pouteria torta showed strong α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Eugenia dysenterica, P. caimito, P. ramiflora, and P. torta aqueous extracts exerted the highest activity against α-amylase (IC50) values of 14.93, 13.6, 7.08, and 5.67 µg/mL, respectively) and α-glucosidase (IC50 values of 0.46, 2.58, 0.35, and 0.22 µg/mL, respectively). Stryphnodendron adstringens ethanol extract also exhibited inhibitory activity against both enzymes (IC50) 1.86 µg/mL against α-amylase and 0.61 µg/mL against α-glucosidase). The results suggest that the activity of these cerrado plants on α-amylase and α-glucosidase represents a potential tool for development of new strategies for treatment of diabetes.
Subject(s)
Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology , Fabaceae/chemistry , Glycoside Hydrolase Inhibitors , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Pouteria/chemistry , Syzygium/chemistry , alpha-Amylases/antagonists & inhibitors , Brazil , Plants, Medicinal/chemistry , alpha-Amylases/metabolism , alpha-Glucosidases/metabolismABSTRACT
Este artigo apresenta a análise térmica para os estudos das propriedades físicas e químicas de compostos e de suas misturas no contexto da área de cosméticos. Os autores relatam alguns trabalhos da literatura em que diferentes técnicas termoanalíticas são usadas na caracterização de matérias-primas, produtos cosméticos e amostras de cabelo.
This paper presents the thermal analysis for the studies of the physical and chemical properties of compounds and their mixtures in the cosmetic area. The authors relate some papers in wich different thermoanalytic techniques have been used for characterization of raw material, cosmetic product and samples of hair.
Subject(s)
Cosmetic Technology , Cosmetics/analysis , Calorimetry, Differential Scanning , Thermogravimetry/methodsABSTRACT
A arbutina, hidroquinona-ß-D-glucopiranosídio, encontrada naturalmente em extratos vegetais, ou obtida sinteticamente, é um despigmentante cutâneo de citotoxicidade e irritabilidade reduzidas e com pequena possibilidade de hipopigmentação irreversível. Estas características justificam o interesse por sua utilização como despigmentante da cútis. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram o desenvolvimento e estudo de estabilidade de géis creme de uso cosmético, contendo arbutina associada ou não ao ácido glicólico; a avaliação da estabilidade destas formulações e a eficácia do efeito despigmentante destes ingredientes ativos. Foram preparados géis creme, não iônicos, os quais foram acrescidos de ácido glicólico 2,6 e 10 por cento p/p nos valores de pH de 3, 4 e 5 (1ª etapa), arbutina 2 por cento p/p associado ou não ao ácido glicólico 10 por cento p/p em valor de pH igual a 5 (2ª e 3ª etapas)...
