Limonium brasiliense is a common plant on the southern coast of Brazil. The roots are traditionally used for treatment of premenstrual syndrome, menstrual disturbances and genito-urinary infections. Pharmaceutical preparations obtained from its roots and used for these purposes were marketed in Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s. Currently, the Brazilian Drug Agency (National Health Surveillance Agency, ANVISA) has canceled the registration of these products, and their use was discontinued because of a lack of studies to characterize the plant raw material and ensure the effectiveness and safety of its use. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate an analytical method to determine the content of total polyphenols (TP) in an extract from L. brasiliense roots, by the UV/Vis spectrophotometric method. L. brasiliense roots were extracted in acetone:water (7:3, v/v-10% w/v). The crude extract was used to develop a method for TP assay. The method was validated according to national and international guidelines. The optimum conditions for analysis time, wavelength, and standard substance were 30 min, 760 nm, and pyrogallol, respectively. Under these conditions, validation by UV/Vis spectrophotometry proved the method to be linear, specific, precise, accurate, reproducible, robust, and easy to perform. This methodology complies with the requirements for analytical application and to ensure the reliability of the results.

No abstract

Works on antiviral compounds date back to the 1950s, but for several reasons, only a couple of drugs were approved for clinical use about a decade later. To date, many antiviral drugs have been developed after extensive research and demanding trials, some of them with selective mechanisms against viral replication. 1) Although the primary focus has been on synthetic products, the number of natural compounds with antiviral action for different DNA and RNA viruses that are being studied is increasing. Many phytochemical compounds are being investigated based primarily on ethnopharmacologic knowledge and have been considered of great importance in new drug development. 2)Extracts of many plant species, such as Tridax procumbens, Carissa carandas, Mallotus philippensis, Streblus aspere, Terminatta alata, Macaranga pustulata, Sibbaldia micropetala, Hypericum cordifolium, H. uralum and Maesa macrophylla were found to be active against the replication of poliovirus and herpes simplex-1 (HSV-1), with some of them also active against Sindbis virus.3,4) A methanol extract of Annona muricata and aqueous extract of Petunia myctaginiflora were shown to inhibit HSV-1 cytopathic effect in Vero cells, at a concentration of 1 mg/ml. 5)Methanol extracts of Indonesian plants were tested for cytotoxicity and antiviral activity (HSV-1 and poliovirus) in murine and human cell lines. Piper aduncum was found to be active on poliovirus, while Elytranthe tubaeflora and Melastoma malabathricum inhibited HSV-1. 6) Dengue virus was inhibited by an aqueous extract of Azadirachta indica when assayed in mice. 7)Stem bark of Stryphnodendron adstringens (MART.) COV-ILLE, Leguminosae, popularly known in our country as barbatimão, has been empirically used as wound healing, astringent, antimicrobial, antifungal, antidiarrheal and hypoglycemic agents.8) Similarly, Guazuma ulmifolia LAM., Sterculiaceae, popularly known as mutamba, is known to have medicinal properties, such as wound healing, antiulcerogenic, hypoglycemic and antimicrobial. 9) G. ulmifolia aqueous and methanol fractions were found to inhibit HSV-1 replication, respectively, by 16.8% and 4.5%, at a concentration of 100 mg/ml, in a study of various plants. Those showing antiviral activity in vitro were also tested in HSV-1 infected mice. Melaleuca leucadendron and Nephelium lappaceum reduced mortality and delayed the appearance of lesions. 10)Among plant antiviral compounds, anthraquinones found in Aloe barbadensis inhibited HSV-1, HSV-2, varicela-zoster, pseudorabies and influenza.11) Stevia rebaudiana polysaccharides inhibited adsorption of human rotavirus in MA-104 cells.12) Flavonoids present in Troillius chinensis flowers also inhibited parainfluenza in HEp-2 cells.13) Quassia africana extracts were tested for HSV-1, coxsackie B2, polio-1, measles, Semliki Forest virus and vesicular stomatitis virus, where simalikalactone D was found to be responsible for the antiviral effect.14) Anagyrine, oxymatrine, sophoranol, wogonin and oroxylin found in Sophora flavescens and Scutellaria b...

No abstract

Recebido em 23/8/11; aceito em 3/11/11; publicado na web em 4/1/12Caesalpinia peltophoroides is a domesticated tree found in Brazil. It was necessary to develop an analytical method to determine the content of total polyphenols (TP) in this herbal drug. The pre-analytical method was standardized for analysis time, wavelength, and the best standard to use. The optimum conditions were: pyrogallol, 760 nm, and 30 min respectively. Under these conditions, validation by UV/Vis spectrophotometry proved to be reliable for TP of the crude extract and semipurified fractions from C. peltophoroides. Standardization is required for every herbal drug, and this method proved to be linear, precise, accurate, reproducible, robust, and easy to perform.

No abstract

The antioxidant activity of stem-bark extracts from

A statistical mixture-design technique was used to study the effects of different solvents and their mixtures on the yield, total polyphenol content, and antioxidant capacity of the crude extracts from the bark of Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Anacardiaceae). The experimental results and their response-surface models showed that ternary mixtures with equal portions of all the three solvents (water, ethanol and acetone) were better than the binary mixtures in generating crude extracts with the highest yield (22.04 ± 0.48%), total polyphenol content (29.39 ± 0.39%), and antioxidant capacity (6.38 ± 0.21). An analytical method was developed and validated for the determination of total polyphenols in the extracts. Optimal conditions for the various parameters in this analytical method, namely, the time for the chromophoric reaction to stabilize, wavelength of the absorption maxima to be monitored, the reference standard and the concentration of sodium carbonate were determined to be 5 min, 780 nm, pyrogallol, and 14.06% w v -1 , respectively. UV-Vis spectrophotometric monitoring of the reaction under these conditions proved the method to be linear, specific, precise, accurate, reproducible, robust, and easy to perform.