Pectin-like polysaccharide extracted from leaves Crataeva tapia promotes antioxidant, immunomodulatory and emulsifiers applied in therapeutic formulations.

The objective of this work was to isolate a polysaccharide similar to pectin from Crataeva tapia leaves, not yet reported in the literature, and to evaluate its antioxidant, cytotoxic and immunomodulatory profile. Pectin was extracted from the leaves in three stages, organic solvent followed by acidified water and ethanol precipitation. With the pectin obtained, the physicochemical characterization of the molecule was carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (13C and 1H) and different thermal and elemental analysis. Furthermore, the antioxidant activities were evaluated in vitro, and using human peripheral blood mononuclear cell culture, cytotoxicity and immunostimulatory actions were investigated. Physical and chemical analyses showed characteristic signs of pectin. Antioxidant activity tests showed that pectin had moderate to low antioxidant activity. Furthermore, pectin did not affect the viability of erythrocytes and PBMC and induced an immunostimulatory state when it promoted the production of cytokines IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α and increased the activation of CD8 + T lymphocytes. This study showed that pectin from Crataeva tapia is not cytotoxic and promoted a pro-inflammatory profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cell with application as an immunostimulating and emulsifying compound.

Characterization of a lignin from Crataeva tapia leaves and potential applications in medicinal and cosmetic formulations.

Lignins are phenolic macromolecules that have several applications. In this work, we examine some biological activities of a lignin-like macromolecule isolated from the Crataeva tapia leaves, not yet studied to evaluate its potential applications in medicinal and cosmetic formulations. Lignin was obtained by alkaline delignification and its physical-chemical characterization was made by means of FT-IR, UV-Vis, NMR spectroscopy, elementary analysis, molecular mass determination and thermal analysis. Lignin is of the GSH type, with levels of hydrogen (5.10%), oxygen (27.18%), carbon (67.60%), nitrogen (0.12%) and phenolic content of 189.6 ± 9.6 mg GAE/g. In addition, it is a thermally stable macromolecule with low antioxidant activity. Cytotoxicity and cytokine production were assessed by flow cytometry. The photoprotective activity was evaluated by adding different concentrations of lignin to a commercial cream. Lignin was not cytotoxic, it stimulated the production of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 and did not promote a significant change in nitric oxide levels. In addition, this macromolecule was able to promote increased absorption of ultraviolet light from a commercial cream. These results reinforce the ethnopharmacological use of C. tapia leaves and suggest the need for further studies to determine the potential medicinal and cosmetic applications (sunscreen) of lignin from C. tapia leaves.