Biological screening of extracts from leaf and stem bark of Croton floribundus Spreng. (Euphorbiaceae).

E F Barth,W Bortolucci,O S Takemura,Z C Gazim,A Laverde-Junior,Y L Silva,L S Pinto,P Dileli,M B Romagnolo,D C Biavatti

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.166522

Abstract

This work describes the preliminary evaluation of cytotoxic, antimicrobial, molluscicidal, antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities from leaf (LECF) and stem bark alcoholic extracts (BECF) of the species Croton floribundus Spreng. (Euphorbiaceae), popularly known as capixingui or tapixingui. BECF presented significant toxicity (LC50 = 89.6 μg/ml) in the Artemia salina Leach, 1819 (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) bioassay, whereas LECF did not show activity (LC50 > 1000 μg/ml). From DPPH method, the values of IC50 for the LECF and BECF were 61.2 μg/ml and 62.2 μg/ml, respectively, showing that C. floribundus has an expressive antioxidant activity. Antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated by microdilution technique and only BECF was active against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 39.6 μg/ml). The extracts did not present molluscicidal activity against snail Biomphalaria glabrata Say, 1818 (Gastropoda: Planorbidae). Both extracts revealed the presence of several components with an inhibiting capacity of acetylcholinesterase enzyme on the bioautographic assay. C. floribundus showed to be a promising species considering that it exhibited good biological activity in the most assays performed.

Highlights

Croton L., the second largest genus of family Euphorbiaceae, comprises ca. 1,300 species which are composed of shrubs and herbs distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the World of which nearly 316 species of Croton occur in Brazil, and 253 of them are endemic (Salatino et al, 2007)
The cytotoxic activity of LECF and BECF were verified preliminarily by the lethality assay on brine shrimp A. salina
As significant toxicity was observed for BECF, it should be considered as an interesting characteristic to utilize this vegetal extract in further studies involving cytotoxicity

Summary

Introduction

Croton L., the second largest genus of family Euphorbiaceae, comprises ca. 1,300 species which are composed of shrubs and herbs distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the World of which nearly 316 species of Croton occur in Brazil, and 253 of them are endemic (Salatino et al, 2007). As most Euphorbiaceae, Croton species may contain latex, which is red-colored in some species (Dragon’s blood), a characteristic which is usually associated with medicinal properties (Gupta et al, 2008; Biscaro et al, 2013; JuraMorawiec and Tulik, 2016). This latex has been used for centuries by indigenous communities of Amazon as a medicinal plant for several maladies. Popular uses of Croton ssp. include treatment of cancer, constipation, diabetes, digestive problems, dysentery, external wounds, fever, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, inflammation, intestinal worms, malaria, pain, ulcers and weight loss (Gupta et al, 2008)

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