Chemical Composition and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of the Decoction from Leaves of a Cultivated Specimen of Myracrodruon urundeuva

Abstract

Myracrodruon urundeuva (Anacardiaceae) is the scientific designation of "aroeira-do-sertão", a tree well dispersed at the northeastern Brazil. The medicinal use of this plant is widespread throughout the rural population and the inner trunk bark decoction is used to treat cutaneous affections, urinary and respiratory diseases, and gynecological problems. "Aroeira-do-sertão" has been included in the list of native species under extinction threat. In order to find a sustainable source of the plant, seedlings have been cultivated. The purpose of this work was to investigate the chemical composition of the decoction from leaves of cultivated plants (aqueous extract from Myracrodruon urundeuva (AEMU)) and its anti-inflammatory activity on human neutrophils. The addition of AEMU on cells suspension inhibited significantly its activation/degranulation induced by phorbol myristate acetate. AEMU since at 50 µg mL-1 showed better pattern of inhibitions when related to indomethacin, nonselective cyclooxygenase inhibitor used as reference anti-inflammatory. The decoction fractionation was performed by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) and semi-preparative highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a phenyl column as the stationary phase, allowing the isolation of 24 compounds. These results showed how the AEMU is rich in bioactive metabolites, which probably contribute for the anti-inflammatory effects of this plant extract, modulating the degranulation of human neutrophils, one of the pro-inflammatory mechanism of these cells.

Genotoxic Assessment of the Dry Decoction of Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (Anacardiaceae) Leaves in Somatic Cells of Drosophila melanogaster by the Comet and SMART Assays

“…The chemical composition analysis of M. urundeuva leaf dry decoction revealed the presence of 24 ubiquitous secondary metabolites, mainly simple phenolic acids and their esters, flavonoids, flavonoid glycosides, and gallotannins (Aquino et al ). Similar results with the leaf ethanol and hydroalcoholic extracts of M. urundeuva were reported by Silva et al () and Resende et al (), respectively.…”

“…In the moment of use, the dry decoction was dissolved in distilled water at the defined concentrations. The chemical characterization of the dry decoction of M. urundeuva leaves can be found in Aquino et al (). The tested doses of M. urundeuva were prepared starting with 288 mg of the dry decoction plus 18 mL of distilled water as solvent.…”

Antimicrobial activity of the aqueous extract and fractions from the leaf of the aroeira-do-sertão

“…After that time, 0.8 mL of essential oil and 2.3 L of decoction liquid were obtained. The aqueous solution was dehydrated using a freeze dryer (Christ Model Alpha 1-2 LD plus), obtaining 83.1 g of the extract and the essential oil was stored [7].…”

“…For the purification of the mixtures, a semi-preparative column with phenyl stationary phase was used in HPLC (Shimadzu Model LC-8A). The identification of these compounds was done using the NMR and MS techniques, as described in our previous work [7]. Weight of fractions: 34-43 (33 mg); 45-52 (38 mg); 57 (68.3 mg); 71-109 (1.02 g); 122-177 (3.9 mg); 181 (244 mg).…”

“…Aquino et al (2019) [7] related the chemical composition of the six fractions and the identification of twenty-four compounds in aqueous extract (Table 1). The composition of the fractions were: The chemical compounds found by Pinho et al (2012) [11] are in agreement with those found in the present study.…”