Brazilian plant extracts belonging to 16 species of 5 different families (71 extracts) were tested against the stable DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) free-radical. The ability to scavenge DPPH radical was measured in these experiments by the discoloration of the solution. Ginkgo biloba and rutin, commonly used as antioxidants for medical purposes, were used as standards. Based on our results, we can say that as a general rule the ethanol extracts of plants belonging to the Verbenaceae family showed lower EC(50) values than the other plant extracts. Among the partitions, the more polar ones (ethyl acetate and n-butanol) are those that generally have higher antioxidant activity (AA).

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INTRODUÇÃOLippia alba ocorre nas américas Central e do Sul, habitando praticamente todas as regiões do Brasil, onde é muito empregada como medicinal, pelas suas propriedades sedativa, carminativa, analgésica, espasmolítica e emenagoga (Zétola et al., 2002;Vale et al., 1999;Matos et al., 1996) Unitermos: Lippia alba, Verbenaceae, óleo essencial, citral, carvona, linalol.ABSTRACT: "Analysis of the essential oil from leaves of three Lippia alba (Mill.) N. E. Br. (Verbenaceae) chemotypes cultivated on the same conditions". The composition of Lippia alba essential oil varies in a manner that different chemotypes are recognized. This work deals with the analysis of the essential oil from three chemotypes of L. alba from different regions of Brazil, cultivated in similar conditions, to verify if the differences in their chemical composition can be due to environmental conditions or may be due to infra-specifi c genetic variation. The infl uence of fl owering was investigated regarding essential oil yield and composition. The chemotypes producing citral, carvone and linalol were denominated chemotypes 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation of the leaves, at fl owering and vegetative growth stages. Essential oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. A better yield was obtained from plants at vegetative stage. The composition of the essential oils remained unchanged after cultivation in the same conditions, and did not vary qualitatively during fl owering and vegetative periods. Relative percentages of the major compounds changed during fl owering period. Data obtained allow us to reinforce the idea that differences in the essential oil composition of the three chemotypes are due to genotypic variations and that the essential oil extraction during the vegetative period enables a better yield and higher percentages of the major compounds.

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, suzana Guimarães leitãO 6 ResumoUm levantamento etnobotânico realizado em comunidades quilombolas de Oriximiná, Pará, destacou a saracuramirá (saR), Ampelozizyphus amazonicus Ducke, com vasto uso popular no tratamento da malária, como tônica e depurativa. Por este motivo, o presente trabalho objetivou realizar um estudo etnofarmacognóstico da saR nas respectivas comunidades. Por meio de uma análise etnobotânica quantitativa, foi verificado que saR apresentou-se dentre as 10 espécies mais versáteis pela elevada importância relativa (1,3), dentre as cinco espécies com maior importância cultural pelo elevado índice de saliência (0,311) e a espécie com maior concordância de uso principal para malária (85,7%). Uma análise do índice de espuma e do índice de hemólise para saR demonstra a presença de saponinas com elevado índice de espuma (833) e uma baixa atividade hemolítica (CH 50 2,6 mg ml -1 ). Para realizar uma análise das agliconas das saponinas de saR, a bebida preparada pelo método tradicional quilombola (BMt) foi hidrolisada e, após reação com diazometano, foi analisada por cromatografia gasosa. Dois sinais majoritários foram caracterizados por espectrometria de massas, um referente a um triterpeno de esqueleto damarânico, característico das saponinas da saR, e outro referente ao éster metílico do ácido betulínico. Partindo das informações de uso popular da saR, foi avaliada in vitro a atividade inibidora da acetilcolinesterase. apesar de BMt não ter mostrado atividade neste ensaio, é possível supor que as indicações de uso desta planta pelos quilombolas como fortificante e contra malária podem estar relacionadas a uma possível atividade adaptógena e imunoestimulante, dada à presença das saponinas e do ácido betulínico em BMt. PalavRas-Chave: etnofarmacologia, efeito adaptógeno, malária, saponinas, ácido betulínico. Ethnopharmacology Study of Saracuramirá (Ampelozizyphus amazonicusDucke) in the "Quilombola" communities of Oriximiná, Pará State, Brazil abstRaCt in an ethnobotanical survey conducted within "Quilombola" communities of Oriximiná, Pará state, "saracuramirá" (saR), Ampelozizyphus amazonicus Ducke, stood out as one of the most cited species with wide popular use, especially for malaria, as tonic and depurative. The aim of this paper was to carry out an ethnopharmacognostic study of saR in these communities. Quantitative ethnobotanical analysis of the data showed that saR stands out as one of the 10 most versatile species with a high relative importance (1,3); it remains among the five species with the greatest cultural importance, demonstrated by the high salience index (0,311), being the species with the highest major use agreement to malaria (85,7%). analysis of the foam and hemolysis indexes of saR shows the presence of saponins with high foam index (833) and low hemolytic activity (HD 50 2,6 mg ml -1). in order to analyze saR saponin aglycones, the drink was prepared by the traditional quilombola method (BMt), was hydrolyzed, and analyzed by gas chromatography after reaction with diazometha...