Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of 'açaí' (Euterpe precatoria Mart.)

Abstract

Recebido em 30/8/07; aceito em 29/2/08; publicado na web em 26/8/08Decoction of roots of the Amazonian palm açaí (Euterpe precatoria Mart.) is widely used by Brazilian and Peruvian people as an anti-inflammatory, to heal kidney and liver diseases and against snake bites. In this study, the antioxidant activity of extracts and flavonoids (quercetin, catechin, epicatechin, rutin and astilbin) isolated from roots and leaf stalks of E. precatoria was investigated using -carotene in TLC plates and DPPH radical scavenging in a spectrophotometric bioassay. All extracts and flavonoids showed activity. Also, the cytotoxic activity of these extracts was evaluated by the brine shrimp (Artemia salina) larvicide bioassay and was lower than that of lapachol, used as control. The presence of flavonoids and sitosterol-3-O--D-glucopyranoside in the extracts can justify the use of the plant in traditional medicine.

Triterpenes and flavonoids from the roots of Mauritia flexuosa

“…The flavonoids 7-9 were identified based on NMR data (Hansen et al, 1999;Galotta et al, 2008) and typical fragmentation by CID experiments with ESI-MS (Fabre et al, 2001). Some biological activities reported for the isolated flavonoids are: antidepressant for rutin (Nolder & Schotz, 2002), anti-inflammatory for rutin and quercetin (Afanaseva et al, 2001) and antioxidant for all of them (Galotta et al, 2008). The flavonol quercetin is ubiquitous in monocotyledons, so it cannot be used as marker of the Arecaceae family (Silva, 2007).…”

Amazon acai: Chemistry and biological activities: A review

“…In the study of Galotta and Bonaventura (2005), using the roots and stalks of the leaves, compounds, such as stigmast-4-en-6β-ol-3-one, sitosterl 3β-OD-glucopyranoside, sitosteryl palmitate, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol mixtures, α -β-amyrin, lupeol, friedelin-3-one, 28-hydroxy-friedelin-3-one and α-and β-D-glucose, were isolated. Besides these substances, other studies report that p-hydroxybenzoic acid and the flavonoids quercetin, catechin, epicatechin, rutin and astilbin, were also isolated, with a strong retention capacity of the free radical DPPH • and low cytotoxicity (Galotta, Boaventura & Lima, 2008). Besides the presence of phenolic substances, there are several other classes of sustantes that are of great industrial interest, such as terpenes and isoprene and benzophenones, making the species of acai, an important biotechnological source ( Figure 6).…”

Constituintes químicos e atividade antioxidante de extratos das folhas de Terminalia fagifolia Mart. et Zucc

“…A identificação estrutural de 1 como catequina foi realizada por meio da análise dos espectros de RMN 1 H e 13 C, mostrando-se consistentes com os relatados por Galotta e colaboradores. 10 Catequinas podem existir como dois isômeros trans-catequina e cis-epicatequina, dependendo da estereoquímica configuracional dos grupos hidroxila e 3',4'-diidroxifenil ligados a C-3 e C-2 do anel C. Cada um dos diasteriosômeros existe como dois isômeros ópticos: (2R, 3S)-2,3-trans-(+)-catequina e (2S, 3R)-2,3-trans-(-)-catequina, (2R, 3R)-2,3-cis-(+)-epicatequina e (2S, 3S)-2,3-cis-(-)-epicatequina. 11 Embora os estereoisômeros (+)-catequina e (-)-epicatequina sejam os mais comumente encontrados em plantas, a substância 1 foi submetida à análise por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência acoplada a um detector de arranjo de fotodiodos e dicroísmo circular (CLAE-DAD-DC), em coluna quiral, para elucidação da estereoquí-mica absoluta.…”