Antioxidative, Antiproliferative and Antimicrobial Activities of Phenolic Compounds from Three Myrcia Species

Abstract

Myrcia bella Cambess., Myrcia fallax (Rich.) DC. and Myrcia guianensis (Aubl.) DC. (Myrtaceae) are trees found in Brazilian Cerrado. They have been widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, hemorrhagic and infectious diseases. Few reports have been found in the literature connecting their phenolic composition and biological activities. In this regard, we have profiled the main phenolic constituents of Myrcia spp. leaves extracts by ESI(−)Q-TOF-MS. The main constituents found were ellagic acid (M. bella), galloyl glucose isomers (M. guianensis) and hexahydroxydiphenic (HHDP) acid derivatives (M. fallax). In addition, quercetin and myricetin derivatives were also found in all Myrcia spp. extracts. The most promising antioxidant activity, measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity, was found for M. fallax extracts (EC50 8.61 ± 0.22 µg·mL−1), being slightly less active than quercetin and gallic acid (EC50 2.96 ± 0.17 and 2.03 ± 0.02 µg·mL−1, respectively). For in vitro antiproliferative activity, M. guianensis showed good activity against leukemia (K562 TGI = 7.45 µg·mL−1). The best antimicrobial activity was observed for M. bella and M. fallax to Escherichia coli (300 and 250 µg·mL−1, respectively). In conclusion, the activities found are closely related to the phenolic composition of these plants.

Metabolomics of Myrcia bella Populations in Brazilian Savanna Reveals Strong Influence of Environmental Factors on Its Specialized Metabolism

“…It should be mentioned that previous bioactivity studies [2][3][4]6] have indicated that specific flavonoids are most likely involved in the medicinal properties of M. bella extracts. In particular, antidiabetic [4] and antimutagenic [2] activities were correlated with the presence of flavonoids, while antimicrobial [3] activity has been associated with the presence of hydrolyzable tannins. The existence of three distinct chemotypes revealed in this study could play a role in the pharmacological effects of the extract.…”

“…In all these studies, phenolic compounds were related to bioactivity. Phytochemical studies of the leaves of M. bella have described several derivatives of O-glycoside flavonols and phenolic acids [3,5,6].…”

First Report on Yield and Chemical Composition of Essential Oil Extracted from Myrcia eximia DC (Myrtaceae) from the Brazilian Amazon

“…It is widely dispersed in the Americas and in Australia, although it is found all over the world [2]. In Brazil, there are 23 genera and approximately 1034 species present throughout the country [3].…”

Optimization of Eugenia punicifolia (Kunth) D. C. leaf extraction using a simplex centroid design focused on extracting phenolics with antioxidant and antiproliferative activities

“…Oxidative stress is maintained in the tumour microenvironment to sustain cancer progression [18]. So, redox regulation seems to be the key factor in regulating carcinogenesis and may be modulated by phenolic antioxidants, as commonly found in Myrtaceae [18] [19],. Moreover, chemotherapeutic drugs can cause serious side effects and drug resistance, which pose limiting factors in the long-term use of these drugs.…”