Ethnopharmacological communication
Evaluation of gastroprotective activity of Plinia edulis (Vell.) Sobral (Myrtaceae) leaves in rats

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2008.05.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Plinia edulis, an arboreous species popularly known as “cambucá”, is native to the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest. Despite its traditional uses, no reports are available on the safety of this utilization or on the relationship between the antiulcer activity of its extract and its phytochemical compounds. This paper reports on the investigation of the acute toxicity and gastroprotective effect of the aqueous ethanol extract of leaves of Plinia edulis on HCl/ethanol-induced ulcers. In order to correlate the secondary metabolites and the efficacy of the crude drug in traditional medicine, the extract was submitted to chromatographic fractionation after solvent partition. The extract did not show acute toxicity in mice treated with 5 g/kg p.o., but exhibited significant antiulcer activity in rats at doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg p.o., more active than the reference drug lansoprazole.The ethyl acetate fraction yielded β-amyrin, oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, and maslinic acid, which were identified based on spectrometric analyses. Since antiulcerogenic activity is not restricted to one class of compounds in plants, the triterpenoids isolated in the extract can be associated with the observed effect.

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.

Section snippets

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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