Browsing by Author "Marques, Joana"
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- Côa Valley’s medicinal plants as potential cosmetic ingredients: cytotoxic and antioxidant assessmentPublication . Marques, Mário Pedro; Landim, Euclides; Varela, Carla; Marques, Joana; Costa, Ricardo M.F. da; Carvalho, Luís A.E. Batista de; Carvalho, Aida; Oliveira, Paulo J.; Cabral, CéliaWhere is located and what is the importance of river Côa Valley? • The river Côa Valley is part of the Guarda District, in the Northeast of Portugal. The Valley comprises an Archeological Park, which is considered “the most important open-air Paleolithic rock art site” in the world, being classified as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. What are the natural resources’ relevance of this region? • The flora of the Archeologic Park in river Côa Valley comprises approximately 500 to 600 different plant species, some Portuguese and/or Iberian endemic species, according to a botanical survey recently carried out by us. Even though, so far, little is known about the natural endogenous resources of this territory, namely concerning medicinal plants. What is the aim of this investigation? • The main aim is to assess the cytotoxicity in skin fibroblasts (NHDF cell line) and the antioxidant activity through cell-free methods, of hydroalcoholic extracts obtained from selected plant species (Figure 1). These extracts are meant to be incorporated into scientific-validated plantbased cosmetic formulations, hence creating an exclusive cosmetic brand for Côa Valley.
- Côa Valley’s medicinal plants as potential cosmetic ingredients: cytotoxic and antioxidant screeningPublication . Marques, Mário Pedro; Landim, Euclides; Varela, Carla; Marques, Joana; Costa, Ricardo; Carvalho, Luís de; Carvalho, Aida; Oliveira, Paulo; Cabral, CéliaCôa Valley is a Northeast region of Portugal, classified as a UNESCO World Her- itage Site since 1998, and recognised as “the most important open-air Paleo- lithic rock art site”. So far, little is known about the natural endogenous resourc- es of this territory, namely medicinal plants. According to a preliminary ethnobotanical survey in this region, several medicinal plants were mentioned to have skin-beneficial effects. However, many of them still lacking scientific validation. Taking into account the results gathered during the survey carried in the CôaMedPlants project, the main goal of this investigation is to assess the cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity of selected species to incorporate them into scientific-validated plant- based cosmetic formulations and create an ex- clusive cosmetic brand for Côa Valley. Therefore, nine species were selected and their hydroalcoholic extracts (EtOH 80 %) were prepared. Their non-cyto- toxic concentrations were determined in vitro using the Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts (NHDF) cell line, by the evaluation of metabolic activity through the Alamar Blue assay, and cell mass estimation according to the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. Most of the extracts revealed non-toxic concentrations ≤ 0.2 mg/mL using the NHDF cell model. Afterwards, non-cellular techniques were used to screen the antioxidant activity of these ethanolic extracts, through DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC and FRAP assays. From the 9 species studied, the most promising so far are: Arbutus unedo L., Cistus albidus L., Cistus salviifolius L., Lavandula pedunculata (Mill.) Cav. and Pistacia terebinthus L., which will be further investigated in- depth, to characterise their antioxidant potential using in vitro cell models.
- Fire regime as a driver of resilience, functional diversity and ecosystem services in Mediterranean mountainsPublication . Honrado, João José; Torres, João; Marques, Joana; Proença, Vânia; Pereira, Henrique; Alonso, Joaquim; Aguiar, CarlosMountain areas in Portugal are usually defined as territories with rough morphology, low demographic densities, and peculiar agrarian systems based on cattle raising and husbandry. The use of fire has been a common management practice in traditional land use, mainly to control vegetation encroachment and to promote pasturelands. Therefore, historically fire has been a strong driver of vegetation patterns, soil properties and ecosystem services throughout Iberian mountains. Recently, however, a generalized tendency for abandonment of agriculture and pastoralism is promoting vegetation recovery and changes in fire regimes, driving a shift from small fires in recurrently burnt areas to energetic and largely unpredictable wildfires. We present results from studies of ecosystem resilience and vegetation dynamics driven by fire regimes, discussing their connection to the provision of ecosystem services. We report strong effects of fire recurrence, distance to the latest wildfire, and geology on scrubland resilience, with potential implications for regulating services. We also evaluated the resistance and resilience of young deciduous forests to fire disturbance and its implications for supporting services. Overall, our results support the idea that fire regime is a major driver of functional diversity in Mediterranean mountains and suggest that land abandonment and related shifts in fire regimes promote unpredictability in the spatiotemporal patterns of several ecosystem services. Finally, we discuss response options for managing changing mountain landscapes.