Ethnopharmacology of the angiosperms of Chapada of Araripe located in Northeast of Brazil

The Chapada of Araripe located in the Northeast of Brazil, presents a great vegetal diversity. Associated with this, the region presents a great cultural plurality, which reflects in several popular knowledge, such as the use of medicinal plants in the region. The objective of this work was to carry out an ethnopharmacological bibliographic survey of angiosperms present in the region. The scientific name of species was associated with the keywords "traditional use", "traditional medicine" "traditional knowledge" and "Brazil" to collect information published and available on Pubmed, Science Direct, Scielo and Scopus Platform. Subsequently, the species with the greatest versatility of use were selected and their relative importance (RI) indexes were calculated. As a result, 92 species with medicinal potential were identified in the Chapada of Araripe, corresponding to 81 genera and 44 botanical families, with Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Malvaceae and Rubiaceae being the taxa that presented the highest number of species with 16, 6, 5 and 5 respectively. The 10 most versatile species were Anacardium occidentale (RI: 1.38), Astronium urundeuva (1.86), Copaifera langsdorffii (2.00), Hancornia speciosa (1.81), Himatanthus drasticus (1.62), Hymenaea stigonocarpa (1.89), Lafoensia pacari (1.83), Libidibia ferrea (1.43), Scoparia dulcis (1.71) and Ximenia americana L. (1.46). Finally, we emphasize that Chapada of Araripe is a region of great biological and cultural value, being important actions for the preservation of local flora and traditional knowledge.

Efeitos do extrato da Ximenia americana L. associado a corticoide e exercício no tratamento de doença pulmonar obstrutiva crônica induzida em Rattus norvegicus

Essa pesquisa tem como objetivo observar a influência do exercício aeróbico associado ao uso de corticoide e extrato aquoso das cascas do caule de Ximenia americana L. no tratamento da Doença Pulmonar Obstrutiva Crônica. Utilizaram-se três doses de papaína via nasal em sete grupos de ratos Wistar machos a fim de induzir resposta inflamatória pulmonar. Os grupos foram divididos em G1 (exercício + inflamação + corticoide), G2 (exercício + inflamação), G3 (inflamação + exercício + X. americana), G4 (inflamação + X. americana), G5 (exercício + inflamação + X. americana + corticoide), G6 (inflamação) e G7 (controle). Após a eutanásia dos animais, realizou-se o lavado brônquico-alveolar, e coleta do coração e pulmão esquerdo para análises histomorfológicas (colorações em H.E., P.A.S e Tricromio de Masson). Verificou-se que houve o sucesso dos tratamentos realizados nos grupos G1, G2, G3, G4, G5 ao serem comparados com G7, com uma equivalência dos grupos tratados quanto à espessura da parede do VD em relação ao G6. Além disso, através das preparações coradas com H.E. provenientes de animais tratados, evidencia-se espaços aéreos dilatados e pequena infiltração de células inflamatórias. A análise qualitativa das lâminas coradas pelo P.A.S. mostra que há um número menor de células caliciformes produtoras de muco em preparações provenientes de ratos expostos a uma associação de esquemas de tratamentos, comparando-se com grupos em que houve uma única forma de tratamento. O extrato aquoso das cascas do caule de X. americana teve uma contribuição significativa no tratamento da DPOC, assim como o exercício físico aeróbio.

Antimicrobial Activities of Cymbopogon citratus and Ximenia Americana Leaf Extracts Against Some Selected Bacterial and Yeast Clinical Isolates

Increasing emergence of resistance to antibiotics by pathogenic microorganisms worldwide necessitates the need for finding new antimicrobial agents with minimal resistance and side effects. This study was carried out to investigate the phytochemical content and antimicrobial activities of two ethno-medicinal plants namely: Cymbopogon citratus and Ximenia Americana. Methanol and aqueous were used as solvent for a soxhlet and aqueous percolation extraction techniques to obtain the crude extracts of the named plant parts. Tannins, steroids, reducing sugars, tritapenoids and Flavonoids were found present in these plant extracts. GC-MS analysis done in this study indicates the presence of some basic phenolic compounds, such as; Cyclohexane-1-3,5-trione & 2-phenyl-1,4-benzopyrone, in the C. citratus extract and methyl guanidine & 3-meyhylheptyl acetate in the X. americana extract, which have been attributed with numerous antimicrobial effects onmicrobial pathogens. Using an agar well diffusion bioassay technique the C. citratus extracts shows; both the extracts are active against E. coli and P. aeroginosa. While X. americana extracts shows a higher activity against C. albican. However the MIC/MBC/MFC of all the extracts shows that known of the extracts has an active viability below 12.5µg/ml.

Screening phytochimique, dosage des polyphénols et détermination de l’activité antioxydante de deux plantes antihypertensives du Niger

Acanthospermum hispidum Dc. et Ximenia americana L. sont largement utilisées en Afrique subsaharienne pour le traitement traditionnel de plusieurs pathologies, dont l’hypertension artérielle. L'objectif du présent travail est de déterminer l’activité antioxydante des extraits bruts de ces plantes, ainsi que les molécules qui leurs confèrent ces propriétés. A cet effet, les parties aériennes d’A. hispidum récoltées à Niamey et l’écorce de tronc de X. americana récoltée à Gaya ont été extraites avec des solvants de polarité croissante, respectivement l’hexane, l’acétate d’éthyle, l’éthanol et le méthanol. Il s’en est suivi le screening phytochimique, le dosage des polyphénols, des flavonoïdes et la détermination des activités antioxydantes. Il est ressorti des résultats du screening phytochimique par des réactions en tubes, la présence des coumarines, des tanins, des flavonoïdes, des stérols et triterpènes, des saponosides, des oses et holosides dans les deux plantes. Le dosage des polyphénols totaux par la méthode du Folin- Ciocalteu a montré que les teneurs en polyphénols totaux varient de 0,627 à 1,583 mg d’équivalent acide gallique (EqAG) pour A. hispidum et de 0,036 à 1,645 mg d’EqAG pour X. americana. Le dosage des flavonoïdes avec AlCl3 a montré que tous les extraits contiennent des flavonoïdes mais que c’est particulièrement les extraits AcOEt d’ A. hispidum et EtOH de X. americana quisont les plus riches avec des taux respectifs de 0,089 mg et 0,069 mg EqQ. L’extrait EtOH de l’écorce de tronc de X. americana a montré la plus grande capacité antiradicalaire (129,56%). Cette activité élevée pourrait être due aux teneurs élevées en flavonoïdes et en polyphénols totaux. L’effet de ces molécules sur les radicaux libres semblerait être à l’origine de l’activité antihypertentive des plantes étudiées.