Browsing by Author "Alvarez, Paula Barciela"
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- HPLC-DAD-(ESI)-MS/MS analysis as the first step to metabolic fingerprinting of medicinal herbs: the case of underexploited Euphorbia speciesPublication . Silveira, Tayse F. F. da; Rodrigues, Daniele Bobrowski; Vazquez, A.P.; Alvarez, Paula Barciela; Carpena Rodríguez, María; Simal-Gandara, Jesus; Prieto Lage, Miguel A.; Barros, LillianThe genus Euphorbia comprises more than 2,000 species widely distributed in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They have been extensively used in folk medicine to treat disorders such as abdominal pain, skin diseases, tumors, wart, among others¹. Although the well-recognized ethnopharmacological relevance of Euphorbia species, most of them have not been studied yet, such as Euphorbia hirta and Euphorbia jokinii. In this context, screening the bioactive molecules potentially responsible for the observed medicinal effects is an initial, but key step for discovering novel active compounds and understanding the mechanisms of action underlying their biological activities. Thus, this study aimed at determining the phenolic compounds composition of E. Hirta and E. jokinii. Both plants were freezedried, milled, and extracted with ethanol:water (60:40 v/v) for 3 hours at 45 °C. After centrifugation, the extracts were freeze-dried, re-suspended in ethanol:water (20:80 v/v), filtered and injected into the HPLC-DAD-(ESI)-MS/MS system. The phenolic profile of E. Hirta and E. Jokinii revealed mainly the presence of flavonoids and galloyl derivatives. Thirty-two compounds were tentatively identified in E. Hirta and twenty-two in E. Jokinii. Quercetin 3-O-rhamnoside was the major compound in both species, with E. Hirta showing the highest content (10.5 mg/g vs 8.2 mg/g extract). Our results indicate that E. Hirta and E. Jokinii, yet underexploited Euphorbia species, are interesting sources of flavonoids. Further studies should evaluate the relationship between these compounds and the biological activities of these plants, as well as establish possible related mechanisms of action.
- Study of the antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities of two Euphorbia speciesPublication . Perez Vazquez, Ana; Alvarez, Paula Barciela; Silva, Tayse Ferreira; Rodrigues, Daniele Bobrowski; Mandim, Filipa; Pires, Tânia C.S.; Carpena Rodríguez, María; Simal-Gandara, Jesus; Barros, Lillian; Prieto Lage, Miguel A.In this research, a study of the antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities of two Euphorbia species (Euphorbia hirta and Euphorbia jolkinii) was developed. Euphorbia species belong to the Euphorbiaceae family, being commonly found in America and tropical Africa. Euphorbia species have been traditionally used in folk medicine to treat gonorrhea, migraines, intestinal parasites, warts, and skin diseases [1]. Since there is more data available of Euphorbia hirta, the aim of this study was to provide a comparison between E. hirta and E. jokinii regarding their antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. For the cellular antioxidant activity, murine macrophage cells RAW 264.7 were used following the procedure described by Wolf & Lui (2007). E. hirta showed better inhibition percentage results than E. jolkinii, being 2,000 μg/mL, the maximum concentration tested for both samples. Extracts of both Euphorbia species were used to determine their antimicrobial activity. Gram-negative and Gram-positive food and clinical bacteria were tested for this assay. Moreover, Streptomycin, Methicillin and Ampicillin were used as controllers to compare both MIC and MBC results. For the food bacteria, E. jolkinii had better MIC results than E. hirta when Gram-negative bacteria were tested, although it was lower than controllers. MBC results for both Euphorbia species were similar and lower than the controllers. When Gram-positive clinical bacteria were tested, similar MIC results between both extracts were obtained. However, when L. monocytogenes and S. aureus were tested, E. jolkinii showed better MIC results. Antifungal activity was also assessed using ketoconazole as control and Aspergillus brasiliensis and Aspergillus fumigatus as fungi. Unsatisfactory results were obtained for both Euphorbia species for both fungi. AGS, CaCo2, MCF-7, NCl-H460, PLP2 and RAW 264.7 cell lines were used for the anti-inflammatory assay. Ellipticine was used as control in all the cell lines except in RAW 264.7, where dexamethasone was used. Results showed lower anti-inflammatory activity of the 2 extracts compared to the controllers in all cell lines, being E. jolkinii the one with lower GI50. Considering the obtained results, although E. hirta has been widely studied, E. jolkinii showed better antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities, being a suitable option for the pharmacological industry.