Recebido em 6/11/00; aceito em 25/7/01 MEDICINAL PLANTS: THE NEED FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC STUDIES. This paper presents a program emphasizing ethnopharmacological approaches that could allow great success in the study of medicinal plants. The minimum ethnopharmacological research team should consist of a botanist, a chemist and a pharmacologist with each carrying the responsibility for answering in sequential fashion critical questions. The chemical composition and pharmacological properties of the very efficient medicinal plant Croton cajucara were investigated according to ethnopharmacological approaches. The study with this Croton proved to be both efficient and successful. This happy situation was only possible because a multidisciplinary team was involved getting the research done correctly. The ethnopharmacological study involving one other especies Copaifera will be cited.Keywords: ethnopharmacology; phytochemistry; Croton cajucara; Copaifera. INTRODUÇÃOO conhecimento sobre plantas medicinais simboliza muitas vezes o único recurso terapêutico de muitas comunidades e grupos étnicos. O uso de plantas no tratamento e na cura de enfermidades é tão antigo quanto a espécie humana. Ainda hoje nas regiões mais pobres do país e até mesmo nas grandes cidades brasileiras, plantas medicinais são comercializadas em feiras livres, mercados populares e encontradas em quintais residenciais. Na região Amazônica foram catalogadas em duas comunidades que vivem nas margens da Baía de Marajó-PA, 260 plantas entre nativas e cultivadas; 1200 são comercializadas no mercado Ver-o-peso, em Belém-PA; outras 242 espécies são cultivadas em quintais residenciais, em Belém 1,2 . As observações populares sobre o uso e a eficácia de plantas medicinais contribuem de forma relevante para a divulgação das virtudes terapêuticas dos vegetais, prescritos com frequência, pelos efeitos medicinais que produzem, apesar de não terem seus constituintes químicos conhecidos. Dessa forma, usuários de plantas medicinais de todo o mundo, mantém em voga a prática do consumo de fitoterápicos, tornando válidas informações terapêuticas que foram sendo acumuladas durante séculos. De maneira indireta, este tipo de cultura medicinal desperta o interesse de pesquisadores em estudos envolvendo áreas multidiciplinares, como por exemplo botânica, farmacologia e fitoquímica, que juntas enriquecem os conhecimentos sobre a inesgotável fonte medicinal natural: a flora mundial.Este artigo focaliza duas das mais importantes plantas medicinais brasileiras da atualidade: Croton cajucara Benth, uma euforbiácea, muito utilizada na medicina popular da região Amazônica, cujo uso vem sendo difundido por todo o país. Esta planta é encontrada em diferentes formulações nas farmácias de produtos naturais do Sudeste; e Copaifera L. (Leguminosae-Caesalpinoideae) cujo óleo, conhecido popularmente como óleo de copaíba, pode ser encontrado à venda em quase todas as feiras livres, mercados populares, ervanários e farmácias de produtos naturais de todo o país.O artigo exemplifica ...

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Three series of 4-anilino-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine-5-carboxylic esters were synthesized as part of a program to study potential anti-Leishmania drugs. These compounds were obtained by a condensation reaction of 4-chloro-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine with several aniline derivatives. Some of them were also obtained by an alternative pathway involving a Mannich-type reaction. The hydrophobic parameter, log P, was determined by shake-flask methodology, and using the Hansch-Fujita addictive hydrophobic fragmental constants. These compounds were tested against promastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis. The very promising results showed the 3'-diethylaminomethyl-substituted compounds as the most active [IC50 = 0.39 (21) and 0.12 microM (22)]. Molecular modeling, using semiempirical AM1 method, predicted the most active compounds through the low-energy conformers superimposition on amodiaquine structure. QSAR equations, derived from the IC50 values against L. amazonensis, showed the hydrophobic (log P) and Sterimol steric (L and B2) parameters as most significant contributions on biological activity.

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The effects of two nor-diterpenes, trans-dehydrocrotonin (DCTN) and trans-crotonin (CTN) from Croton cajucara (Euphorbiaceae), on the survival of mice bearing Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich carcinoma ascitic tumours, on the proliferation of cultured Ehrlich cells and TNF alpha activity were determined. When the mice were treated with 80 and 120 mg/kg of DCTN or 38 mg/kg of 5-FU a significant anti-tumour activity was obtained (%T/C of 128-140). The cytotoxicity against Ehrlich carcinoma was 16 microM for DCTN and CTN whereas the flavonoid quercetin was cytotoxic at 44 microM in 48 h cell culture. No apoptosis was seen on in vitro electrophoresis of DNA extracted from the tumour cells treated with DCTN and CTN. A significant TNF alpha activity was detected in Ehrlich tumour-bearing mice treated with DCTN suggesting an enhanced immune function.

Using high-resolution solid-state (15)N CMAS NMR, X-ray crystallography, and ab initio calculations, we have studied the structure of solid pyrazole-4-carboxylic acid (1). The crystal structure was determined at 295 and 150 K. Molecules of 1 are located on a two-fold axis, implying proton disorder of the NH and OH groups; no phase transition was observed between these two temperatures. The compound forms quasi-linear ribbons in which the molecules are linked by cyclic hydrogen bonds between pyrazole and carboxylic acid groups with disordered hydrogen-bonded protons. Crystallography is unable to decide whether the disorder is dynamic or static. NMR shows that this disorder is dynamic, that is, consisting of very fast degenerate double proton transfers between two rapidly interconverting O-H.N and O.H-N hydrogen bridges. However, at low temperature, NMR shows a proton disorder-order transition where the protons are preferentially localized on given nitrogen and oxygen atoms. An amorphous phase exhibiting proton order is observed when the compound is precipitated rapidly. In this case, the defects are annealed by moderate heating. Ab initio calculations performed on oligomers of 1 show that the O-H.N hydrogen bridge is about 0.064 A shorter and less bent ( approximately 171 degrees ) than the O.H-N hydrogen bridge ( approximately 150 degrees ). For an isolated ribbon, this result leads to structures with localized protons, either to a cycle with about 200 molecules, or to a quasi-linear ribbon involving an undulated structure, or to a combination of both motifs. Only the undulated structure is compatible with the linear ribbon observed by X-ray crystallography, where the fast proton transfer in the high-temperature phase is assisted by the motions of the undulated chain. A disordered structure is assigned to the amorphous phase, which exhibits the combination of the curved and the undulated motifs.

The ligands 2,4,6-tris(4-methylpyrazol-1-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (Me-TPzT), 2,4,6-tris(4-bromopyrazol-1-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (Br-TPzT), and 2-methoxy-4,6-bis(4-methylpyrazol-1-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (Me-BPzTOMe) have been synthesized and their reactions with some palladium derivatives explored. The palladium fragment [Pd(eta(3)-2-Me-C(3)H(4))(S)(2)](+), S = acetone, reacts in acetone with Me-TPzT or Br-TPzT in a 3:1 molar ratio to generate new complexes in which two allylpalladium fragments are present and the TPzT ligands have been partially hydrolyzed: [{Pd(eta(3)-C(4)H(7))}(2)(X-BPzTO)]A, X-BPzTO = 4,6-bis[4-methyl(or bromo)pyrazol-1-yl]-1,3,5-triazin-2-olate (X = Me, A = BF(4), 1; A = PF(6), 2; A = CF(3)SO(3), 3; A = p-MeC(6)H(4)SO(3), 4; X = Br, A = CF(3)SO(3), 5). When the ligand Me-BPzTOMe is made to react with only 1 equiv of the palladium solvate, compound 6, [Pd(eta(3)-2-Me-C(3)H(4))(Me-BPzTOMe)]CF(3)SO(3), is isolated. Reaction of 6 with another 1 equiv of the palladium derivative leads to 3. The intermediate 7, [{Pd(eta(3)-2-Me-C(3)H(4))}(2)(Me-BPzTOMe)]CF(3)SO(3), has been isolated as an almost pure compound. The reaction of Me-BPzTOMe with 1 equiv of [Pd(C(6)F(5))(2)(cod)] (cod = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) leads to the complex [Pd(C(6)F(5))(2)(Me-BPzTOMe)], 8. Attention has been focused on the dynamic behavior, related with metallotropic phenomena, of the new complexes. (1)H NMR variable-temperature studies of complexes 1, 6, and 8 have been carried out. For 8, only one static species is observed, while, for 1 and 6, two isomers are detected at low temperature. Different DeltaG(c)() activation energies at the coalescence temperature have been determined and are ascribed to processes implying Pd-N bond ruptures. For 6, two different barriers are detected, corresponding to Pd-N(triazine) or Pd-N(pyrazole) bond ruptures. From the DeltaG(c)() data, it is concluded that the main driving force of the hydrolysis process is the formation of a better coordinating ligand. The molecular structure of 4 has been determined by X-ray diffraction. The meso isomer, in which the two C-Me axes of the allylic groups are oriented in the same direction, is found in the solid state.

The biological activities of a series of mesoionic 1,3,4-thiadiazolium-2-aminide derivatives have been studied. The most active compounds (MI-HH; MI-3-OCH(3); MI-4-OCH(3) and MI-4-NO(2)) were evaluated to determine their effect on trypanothione reductase (TryR) activity in Leishmania sp. and Trypanosoma cruzi. Among the assayed compounds, only MI-4-NO(2) showed enzyme inhibition effect on extracts from different cultures of parasites, which was confirmed using the recombinant enzyme from T. cruzi (TcTryR) and Leishmania infantum (LiTryR). The enzyme kinetics determined with LiTryR demonstrated a non-competitive inhibition profile of MI-4-NO(2). A molecular docking study showed that the mesoionic compounds could effectively dock into the substrate binding site together with the substrate molecule. The mesoionic compounds were also effective ligands of the NADPH and FAD binding sites and the NADPH binding site was predicted as the best of all three binding sites. Based on the theoretical results, an explanation at the molecular level is proposed for the MI-4-NO(2) enzyme inhibition effect. Given TryR as a molecular target, it is important to continue the study of mesoionic compounds as part of a drug discovery campaign against Leishmaniasis or Chagas' disease.