ÁREA: Produtos Naturais
TÍTULO: THE ANTIOXIDANT VALUE OF MORACEAE SPECIES
AUTORES: PEREIRA, V.J. ; KAPLAN. MAC (NPPN/ UFRJ)
RESUMO: Considering the growing interest in the human oxidative damage that are related to chronic diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer, Moraceae natural products were investigated in the literature and appear to be of antioxidant value.
PALAVRAS CHAVES: antioxidant moraceae investigation
INTRODUÇÃO: Antioxidant constituents are important for human health as they protect against chronic degenerative diseases (Milner, J. Nutr., 129, 1395, 1999) inhibiting or delaying lipid oxidation and retarding some toxic oxidation formation (Fukumoto, J. Agric. Food. Chem., 48, 3597, 2000). Moraceae is a family of flowering plants with 37 genera and over 1100 species (Am. J. Bot., 91, 767, 2004), some of them are useful as medicinal plant.
MATERIAL E MÉTODOS: The chemical investigation of natural product literature from 1907 to 2009 involving Moraceae species, their structural determination and bioactive properties, led to a large number of plants. At the 193 instances about activities: antibacterial, antitumor, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, anti-HSV and anti-HIV were investigated. The growing interest in the search for new and safe natural antioxidants was focused on 28 species. The scavenging activities of their extracts were estimated by the methods: phosfomolibidenium, -CLAMS, LPIA, the superoxide free radical assay or the use of 1,1-diphenyl-2-pycrylhydrazil (DPPH).
RESULTADOS E DISCUSSÃO: Plants of Antiaris, Artocarpus, Broussonetia, Dorstenia, Ficus, Maclura and Morus had their antioxidant potential and chemical constituents studied among which are prenylated flavonoids, stilbens, carotenoids, polyphenolics, Dyels-Alder type adducts, arylbenzofurans, lignans and diterpens. Flavonoids were the major representative reaching about 70% of the findings. The investigated genera showed different levels of antioxidant activity however Artocarpus and Morus were the most related.
CONCLUSÕES: Considering the interest in the human oxidative damage related to chronic diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer, Moraceae plants appear as a source of compounds with antioxidant value in different test systems. Besides the bioavailability of Morus and Artocarpus species is a relevant factor for their medicinal uses. Unfortunately there are many other genera not studied yet and according to their chemical relationship, an effort should be made to improve more Moraceae natural antioxidant product discovery. (CNPq/UFRJ)
AGRADECIMENTOS: CNPq e UFRJ/RJ
REFERÊNCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICA: Milner, J. Nutr., 129, 1395, 1999
Fukumoto, J. Agric. Food. Chem., 48, 3597, 2000
Am. J. Bot., 91, 767, 2004
