Abstract
Abstract Plants possess a renewable source of metabolites with enormous chemical structural diversity, which may have potential therapeutic relevance. Furthermore, this chemical diversity favors the possibility of finding new and different chemical constituents with antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-tumor activities. This work analyzed preliminary phytochemical profiles and evaluated the antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of hexane extracts of leaves of ten species of the family Melastomataceae. Phytochemical screening was performed using staining methods while total phenols and flavonoids were quantified by spectrophotometry. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated using the disk diffusion method. Antioxidant activity was determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) method. Toxicity was recorded using the lethality test with Artemia salina Leach (1819). Cytotoxic activity of the extracts was assessed in vitro with acute monocytic leukemia cells (THP-1). Phytochemical analysis detected the presence of tannins, terpenes, steroids, polyphenols and flavonoids and the absence of alkaloids. Clidemia capitellata (Bonpl.) D. Don had the greatest amount of polyphenols (205.95 mg/g ± 4.14) while Clidemia hirta (L.) D. Don had the highest content of total flavonoids (143.99 mg/g ± 4.18). The hexane extracts did not show antimicrobial activity nor toxicity against Artemia salina. The extract of Tibouchina francavillana Cogn. was the most active in sequestering the DPPH radical. The extracts showed cytotoxicity in THP-1 cells with the appearance of apoptotic bodies and cell death. The extracts of Miconia amoena, Clidemia sericea and Clidemia capitellata are non-toxic against Artemia salina and induce the formation of apoptotic bodies and cell death of the THP-1 lineage.
Highlights
The increased incidence of bacterial resistance, which has been intensified by the extensive and indiscriminate use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, has raised an urgent need for antimicrobial screening (Eloff and McGaw, 2006)
Targeted investigations of plant products increase the chances of finding new and different chemical constituents with antimicrobial activities since plants have a renewable source of metabolites with enormous structural chemical diversity, which may have potential therapeutic relevance (França, 2017)
Deleterious effects to DNA, proteins, lipids and other tissue biomolecules resulting from the excess production of free radicals in the human body have been indicated as being responsible for the development of chronic and degenerative diseases such as cancer and premature aging (Gonçalves et al, 2005)
Summary
The increased incidence of bacterial resistance, which has been intensified by the extensive and indiscriminate use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, has raised an urgent need for antimicrobial screening (Eloff and McGaw, 2006). Deleterious effects to DNA, proteins, lipids and other tissue biomolecules resulting from the excess production of free radicals in the human body have been indicated as being responsible for the development of chronic and degenerative diseases such as cancer and premature aging (Gonçalves et al, 2005). Antioxidants of plant origin have been established as an important exogenous factor in combating the cumulative effects of free radicals and, reducing damage to the body (Sies, 1993). In Brazil, the country with the greatest number of flowering plant species in the world, Melastomataceae is the fifth most represented group of angiosperms, with about 73 genera and 1,481 species (JBRJ, 2020)
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