Establishing a genomic database for the medicinal plants in the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia

Background Brazil is exceptionally abundant in medicinal plant resources and has a rich ethnopharmacological history. Brazilian Pharmacopoeia (BP) acts as a national standard that regulates drug quality and has six published editions. Recent genomic approaches have led to a resurgence of interest in herbal drugs. The genomic data of plants has been used for pharmaceutical applications, protecting natural resources, and efficiently regulating the market. However, there are few genomic databases specifically for medicinal plants, and the establishment of a database that focuses on the herbs contained in the BP is urgently required. Methods The medicinal plant species included in each edition of the BP were analyzed to understand the evolution of the Brazilian herbal drugs. The data of 82 plants in the BP were collected and categorized into four sections: DNA barcodes, super-barcodes, genomes, and sequencing data. A typical web server architecture pattern was used to build the database and website. Furthermore, the cp-Gs of the Aloe genus in the database were analyzed as an illustration. Results A new database, the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia Genomic Database (BPGD) was constructed and is now publicly accessible. A BLAST server for species identification and sequence searching with the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2), the intergenic region (psbA-trnH), and the chloroplast genome (cp-G) of Brazilian medicinal plants was also embedded in the BPGD. The database has 753 ITS2 of 76 species, 553 psbA-trnH and 190 genomes (whole genome and chloroplast genome) of 57 species. In addition, it contains 37 genome sequence data sets of 24 species and 616 transcriptome sequence data sets of 34 species and also includes 187 cp-Gs representing 57 medicinal species in the BP. Analyses of the six cp-Gs of three Aloe species identified the variable regions in the cp-Gs. These can be used to identify species and understand the intraspecific relationships. Conclusions This study presents the first genomic database of medicinal plants listed in the latest BP. It serves as an efficient platform to obtain and analyze genomic data, accelerate studies regarding Brazilian medicinal plants and facilitate the rational development on their market regulation.

Espécies medicinais do Brasil com potencial anti-inflamatório ou antioxidante: Uma revisão

As plantas medicinais são utilizadas pela população desde tempos imemoriais, representando uma fonte notável para o tratamento de diversas doenças humanas, que podem ter seu risco reduzido pela ingestão de produtos à base destas plantas, benefícios que são atribuídos a alguns metabólitos secundários que apresentam uma diversidade de atividades, dentre elas destacam-se a antiinflamatória e/ou antioxidante. O objetivo desse trabalho é realizar um levantamento bibliográfico buscando as espécies mais utilizadas de plantas medicinais do Brasil com potencial anti-inflamatório e antioxidante da última década. Foram utilizadas publicações indexadas nas bases de dados PubMed, Science Direct e Scielo nos últimos 10 anos, utilizando os seguintes descritores: “Brazilian medicinal plants”, “anti-inflammatory activity” e “antioxidant activity” Utilizando o marcador booleano “AND” assegurando a especificidade nas buscas. Foram identificados 1.185 artigos, onde 1.140 foram eliminados por não atenderem aos critérios de inclusão ou exclusão. O total de 45 artigos foram incluídos, categorizados de acordo com a utilização para atividade anti-inflamatória e atividade antioxidante. Dentre os compostos ativos com atividades anti-inflamatórias tem-se alguns compostos polifenólicos, além de alcalóide, terpenóide e esteróides. Estes metabólitos secundários atuam em diferentes alvos envolvidos no processo inflamatório. Os estudos têm demonstrado que os compostos polifenólicos, principalmente os flavonoides, apresentam propriedades antioxidantes que podem ser utilizados para fins terapêuticos em doenças como crônico-degenerativas. Esses resultados sugerem as perspectivas de estudos futuros para se obter uma melhor compreensão dos componentes individuais e o uso desses compostos como um possível agente terapêutico para patologias como a inflamação e aumento de radicais livres.

Hyptis brevipes AND Paullinia pinnata EXTRACTS AND THEIR FRACTIONS PRESENTING ACTIVITY AGAINST Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. massiliense

Medicinal plants are of great interest for the discovery of new biomolecules with diversified effects. Over the last decade different outbreaks caused by Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. massiliense have been reported, evidencing it as an important emerging pathogen in underdeveloped countries. This study investigated the antimycobacterial activity of six Brazilian medicinal plant extracts and their fractions. Hyptis brevipes, Tocoyena formosa, Randia armata, Paullinia pinnata, Lafoensia pacari and Anadenanthera colubrina were evaluated against M. a. massiliense. Total extracts from the medicinal plants H. brevipes, T. formosa, P. pinnata and L. pacari presented a minimal bactericidal concentration of 1 mg/mL. After fractioning, the ethanolic fractions from H. brevipes and P. pinnata presented bactericidal activity, and the ethyl acetate fraction from H. brevipes and T. formosa presented antimycobacterial action. The best bactericidal function of all plant fractions was the ethanolic, which contained rutin and rosmarinic acid that were shown to have microbicidal activity. KEY WORDS: Mycobacterium abscessus; medicinal plants; Brazilian medicinal plants; HPLCand biodiversity.