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Leishmaniasis is a disease that affects millions of people and it is an important public health problem. The drugs currently used for the treatment of leishmaniasis present undesirable side effects and low efficacy. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro activity of Melampodium divaricatum (MD-EO) and Casearia sylvestris (CS-EO) essential oils (EO) against promastigote and amastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis . Sesquiterpenes E -caryophyllene (56.0%), germacrene D (12.7%) and bicyclogermacrene (9.2%) were identified as the main components of MD-EO , whereas E -caryophyllene (22.2%), germacrene D (19.6%) and bicyclogermacrene (12.2%) were the main constituents of CS-EO. CS-EO and E -caryophyllene were active against promastigote forms of L. amazonensis (IC 50 24.2, 29.8 and 49.9 µg/mL, respectively). However, MD-EO, CS-EO and E -caryophyllene were more active against amastigote forms, with IC 50 values of 10.7, 14.0, and 10.7 µg/mL, respectively. E -caryophyllene presented lower cytotoxicity against macrophages J774-A1 (CC 50 of 62.1 µg/mL) than the EO. The EOs and E -caryophyllene should be further studied for the development of new antileishmanial drugs.

RESUMO:Considerando-se a qualidade dos fi toterápicos, é importante salientar que a preocupação com esta questão inclui rigoroso acompanhamento das diferentes etapas do desenvolvimento e produção destes produtos, desde a coleta do vegetal até a disponibilidade do produto fi nal. Neste trabalho foi realizado o controle da qualidade do fruto de Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels, popularmente conhecido como jambolão. Para o controle físico-químico e microbiológico utilizaram-se metodologias farmacopéicas e não farmacopeicas. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que o fruto apresenta um teor de taninos de 4,2% e a análise fi toquímica preliminar dos frutos de S. cumini evidenciou taninos, fl avonóides, antocianidinas, iridóides, alcalóides e heterosídeos fenólicos simples. A análise microbiológica não apresentou crescimento de patógenos entre os outros testes realizados. Destaca-se a importância do estabelecimento de normas para o controle da qualidade para as plantas, a fi m de que sejam utilizadas com fi nalidade fi toterápica.Unitermos: Syzygium cumini, Myrtaceae, controle da qualidade, fi toterápicos, controle da qualidade físico-químico, controle microbiológico.ABSTRACT: "Quality control of Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels fruits". Considering the quality of the phytotherapic agents, it is important to point out that the concern with this subject includes rigorous attendance of the different steps of the development and production of these products, from the collection of the vegetable to the availability of the fi nal product. In this work the quality control of the Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels fruit, popularly known as jambolão, was carried out. Pharmacopoeic and no pharmacopoeic methodologies were employed to physico-chemical and microbiological quality control. The obtained results showed that the fruits presents a content of tannins of 4.2%, the preliminary phytochemical analysis of the S. cumini fruits evidenced tannins, fl avonoids, antocianidin, iridoids, alkaloids and heterosides simple phenols. The microbiological analysis didn't present phatogenic growth among the other accomplished tests. The work stands out the importance of the establishment of norms for the quality control for the plants, so that they are used with phytotherapic purpose.Keywords: Syzygium cumini, Myrtaceae, quality control, phytotherapy, physico-chemical quality control, microbiologic control. INTRODUÇÃOAs plantas representaram, durante séculos, a única fonte de agentes terapêuticos para o homem. No início do século XIX, com o desenvolvimento da química, as plantas passaram a representar a primeira fonte de substâncias para o desenvolvimento de medicamentos (Albuquerque; Hanazaki, 2006;Zaroni et al., 2004;Hostettmann et al., 2003).Muitas empresas estão conscientes das tendências de consumo, e buscam novos ingredientes para incorporar aos produtos já existentes e aos que poderão ser desenvolvidos no futuro. Uma tendência que está se destacando é o aumento na procura por parte da população, de produtos funcionais baseados em ativos ou fi toterápico...

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Mikania glomerata Spreng. (Asteracae) is a plant widely used to treat gastrointestinal disorders in Brazilian traditional medicine. In the present work, an aqueous extract of the leaves of Mikania glomerata has shown a decrease in the propulsive movements of the intestinal contents in mice. Oral administration produced an inhibition of gastrointestinal transit as effective as that produced by loperamide. These fi ndings suggested that the aqueous extract of the leaves of Mikania glomerata might elicit an antidiarrhoeal effect by inhibiting intestinal motility.

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The present investigation was to evaluate the potential trypanocidal activity of crude ethanolic extract of the fruits of Solanum palinacanthum, Solanum lycocarpum and the glycoalcaloid, solamargine. S. palinacanthum and S. lycocarpum fruit powders were submitted to exhaustively extraction with 96% ethanol and solamargine were isolated from the extract of S. palinacanthum. Both extracts and solamargine were analysed for trypanocidal activity by using MTT colorimetric assay. Extracts of S. palinacanthum showed to be more active (IC 50 = 175.9 µg.ml -1 ) than S. lycocarpum (IC 50 = 194.7 µg.ml -1 ). Solamargine presented a strong activity (IC 50 = 15.3 µg.ml -1 ), which can explain the better activity of the both extracts.Benznidazol (IC 50 = 9.0 µg.ml -1 ) is the only drug used to treat Chagas' disease. These findings demonstrate for the first time that ethanol extracts obtained from both fruits of S. palinacanthum and S. lycocarpum and also solamargine have a potential anti-trypanosomal activity.

The growing list of drug-resistant microorganisms and the persistence of deaths due to diarrhea are compelling reasons to study plants in search of new therapeutic agents. The chemical constitution and popular use of the edible fruits of Campomanesia xanthocarpa O. Berg motivated this study to assess the antimicrobial and antidiarrheal properties of the fruits. An extract in 70% ethanol was prepared, and its antimicrobial activity was tested against several strains of bacteria by the agar diffusion and microdilution methods. Antidiarrheal activity was analyzed by testing intestinal motility in an animal model. Preliminary phytochemical study indicated the presence of flavonoids, saponins, and tannins in the hydroalcoholic extract. Antimicrobial activity was significant, but the minimum inhibitory concentration proved to be higher than the maximum extract concentration tested. The extract did not show significant activity for intestinal motility. Although this fruit extract did not show great results as an antimicrobial or antidiarrheal agent, the study contributes to the search for new plant agents and could be referred to as a research protocol by investigators in this area.