Therapeutic potential of pollen

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of phenolic compounds of Portuguese flora as a source of flavonoids for use in research of new active molecules using a previous screening by HPLC/DAD. Some of these compounds have bioactive properties as antioxidant and will study in order to determine its anti-inflammatory action. On the other hand, for example, flavones are possible research targets with benzodiazepine-like activity and isoflavones as estrogen-like. When these molecules appear much methylated or hydroxylated, anti-redox potential and antibacterial ability can be assessed. The samples were collected directly into stamens of plants and served as the basis for identification of pollen material collected by bees. The samples analyzed were: Carpobrotus edulis (L.) N.E.Br., Tilia spp., Viburnum tinus L. and Opuntia spp. Approximately 10 mg of pollen sample are dried and extracted with 50% ethanol (1:1, v/v), after was assisted by ultrasonication (30 min), centrifuged at 5000 rpm during 10 min and the supernatant used for HPLC/DAD according Campos and Markham [1]. The compounds structures were determined by UV absorption spectroscopy according Campos and Markham [1]. The more flavonoids common structure in the samples was of 3-O-glycosides of quercetin and kaempferol, and phenolic polymers acids. The less common structure is a derivative of kaempferol that have derivatization at the ring in C6 or C8 alkyl, which makes evident for further evaluation of their therapeutic activity, for the ability to GABAa binding receptors may be one of the possibilities. The studied species present a probability of being able to establish a relationship with greater therapeutic potential (Figure 1).