Ethnopharmacological communicationEvaluation of gastroprotective activity of Plinia edulis (Vell.) Sobral (Myrtaceae) leaves in rats
Introduction
Plinia edulis (Myrtaceae) is an arboreous species that grows in Brazil from the state of Rio de Janeiro southward to Rio Grande do Sul (Lorenzi et al., 2006). Endemic to the Atlantic Rain Forest it is commonly employed in the treatment of stomach disorders, throat affections, diabetes and also as a tonic by traditional seaside settlers of the Brazilian southeastern coast (Cruz, 1979, Bragança, 1996, Maciel and Cardoso, 2003, Nascente, 2008).
Though the genus has been the object of phytochemical and biological studies, references in the literature are still scarce. Some species are sources of flavonoids (Mendez et al., 1994, Mendez et al., 1997, Lanças et al., 1996) and have been evaluated as inhibitors of xanthine-oxidase (Theoduloz et al., 1988). A predominance of sesquiterpenes in the volatile oil of Plinia species has been reported (Apel et al., 2006).
Despite the popular use of Plinia edulis, no toxicological or pharmacological information is available on the species. With the purpose of assessing the efficacy of the crude drug in traditional medicinal use and to correlate it with the plant's secondary metabolites, the aqueous ethanol extract of its leaves was evaluated for gastroprotection at three different doses and subjected to phytochemical analysis. The acute toxicity was also assessed.
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Plant material
Leaves of Plinia edulis (Vell.) Sobral were collected from Trindade, Parati county, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, in the morning during the flowering period (summer). The plant material was identified by Dr. Lúcia Rossi from Instituto de Botânica de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Voucher specimen was deposited in the Herbarium of the same Institute (SP 356.472).
Extraction and isolation
Air-dried powdered leaves (2.9 kg) were extracted with 70% ethanol by percolation at room temperature (±25 °C). The solution was
Phytochemical analysis
By comparing their spectral data with those reported in the literature, the compounds were identified as β-amyrin (fraction 5) (Mahato and Kundu, 1994), a mixture of oleanolic and ursolic acids (fraction 18) (Hung and Yen, 2001, Seebacher et al., 2003), and maslinic acid (fraction 30) (Tanaka et al., 2003).
β-Amyrin: 13C NMR (75.5 MHz, CDCl3) 38.8 (C1), 27.4 (C2), 79.0 (C3), 38.8 (C4), 55.3 (C5), 18.4 (C6), 32.6 (C7), 38.8 (C8), 47.6 (C9), 37.7 (C10), 23.7 (C11), 121.7 (C12), 145.2 (C13), 41.7
Discussion and conclusions
The gastric mucosal damage induced by necrotizing agents such as HCl and EtOH has been reported to involve depression of gastric defensive mechanisms and stasis of gastric flow, which contribute to the development of hemorrhagic and necrotic lesions (Andreo et al., 2006). Since studies have pointed out that the gastroprotective activity of terpenoids may particularly involve reinforcement of defensive factors of the gastric mucosa, the triterpenoids identified from LE probably play a
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank CAPES, CNPq and FAPEAM (Brazil) for the fellowships awarded and the financial support provided.
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