Plants are promising sources of new bioactive compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic potential of nine plants found in Brazil. The species studied were: Annona pickelii Diels (Annonaceae), Annona salzmannii A. DC. (Annonaceae), Guatteria blepharophylla Mart. (Annonaceae), Guatteria hispida (R. E. Fr.) Erkens & Maas (Annonaceae), Hancornia speciosa Gomes (Apocynaceae), Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae), Kielmeyera rugosa Choisy (Clusiaceae), Lippia gracilis Schauer (Verbenaceae), and Hyptis calida Mart. Ex Benth (Lamiaceae). Different types of extractions from several parts of plants resulted in 43 extracts. Their cytotoxicity was tested against HCT-8 (colon carcinoma), MDA-MB-435 (melanoma), SF-295 (glioblastoma), and HL-60 (promielocitic leukemia) human tumor cell lines, using the thiazolyl blue test (MTT) assay. The active extracts were those obtained from G. blepharophylla, G. hispida, J. curcas, K. rugosa, and L. gracilis. In addition, seven compounds isolated from the active extracts were tested; among them, β-pinene found in G. hispida and one coumarin isolated from K. rugora showed weak cytotoxic activity. In summary, this manuscript contributes to the understanding of the potentialities of Brazilian plants as sources of new anticancer drugs.
New biocatalysts for bioremediation techniques are necessary nowadays. Therefore, a bacterial consortium isolated from Brazilian Savannah was employed for biodegradation of 100 mg L −1 esfenvalerate in liquid culture medium. The bacterial consortium (Lysinibacillus xylanilyticus CBMAI2085, Bacillus cereus CBMAI2067, Lysinibacillus sp. CBMAI2051 and Bacillus sp. CBMAI2052) biodegraded this pyrethroid efficiently. The assays were conducted in triplicate, and after 12 days, 90% of the pesticide was degraded producing 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (35.0 ± 3.1 mg L −1 ) and 2-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-methylbutanoic acid (34.0 ± 2.8 mg L −1 ). The bacterial consortium (52 ± 5% biodegradation) was more efficient in the biodegradation than the average of the same strains solely employed (40 ± 7% biodegradation), showing that the use of consortia is an interesting approach. However, the strain Bacillus cereus CBMAI2067 (67 ± 3% biodegradation) was more efficient than the bacterial consortium, showing its potential as source of carboxylesterases and proving that, in this case, the use of a unique efficient strain is more adequate.
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