Metabolic and biological prospecting of Aphyllocladus spartioides

LR Silva; L Celaya; PF Oliveira; B Silva; CI Viturro

doi:10.1055/s-0035-1565847

Planta Medica, Inhaltsverzeichnis

Metabolic and biological prospecting of Aphyllocladus spartioides

LR Silva ¹^,²^,³, L Celaya ⁴, PF Oliveira ¹, B Silva ¹, CI Viturro ⁴

¹CICS-UBI – Health Sciences Research Centre Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal
²LEPAE, Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
³Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Escola Superior de Saúde Dr Lopes Dias, Castelo Branco, Portugal
⁴PRONOA, Engineering Faculty, Jujuy National University, Italo Palanca, Jujuy, Portugal

Abstract

Aphyllocladus spartioides known as “tojra tola” is a native shrub distributed in southern Bolivia and the northwest of Argentina, being used medicinally by indigenous people for the treatment of digestive infections and to treat rheumatic diseases. In order to improve the knowledge on its metabolite profile and biological properties, two different leaf extracts (hydroethanolic and decoction) were studied. 18 phenolic compounds were determined by HPLC-DAD. The phenolic content of the hydroethanolic extract was higher, isorhamnetin-3-O-glucoside being the main constituent. 8 Organic acids were identified by HPLC-UV, malic acid was the compound present in the highest amount in both extracts. The chemical profile of essential oil of A. spartioides leaves was also characterized by HS-SPME/GC-FID, and 67 volatiles were identified. δ-Cadinene was the most abundant constituent. The inhibitory effects against cholinesterases, the antioxidant potential (DPPH·, O ₂ ^·- and ·NO) and the antibacterial activity were checked by in vitro assays. Decoction was the most active against the first two radicals (IC ₅₀= 79 and 28 µg/mL, respectively). Thet hydroethanolic extract proved to be the most active on nitric oxide (IC ₅₀= 206 µg/mL), acetylcholinesterase (IC ₅₀= 926 µg/mL), butyrylcholinesterase (IC ₅₀= 917 µg/mL) and α-glucosidase (IC ₅₀= 181 µg/mL). Additionally, antibacterial activity was also investigated here against a set of pathogenic bacteria. The bioactivities observed may be due, at least partially, to the presence of organic and phenolic acids, flavonoids and volatiles determined in this work. Furthermore, A. spartioides can be used in food industry as food additive, or can be applied in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries providing protections against several diseases.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the financial support from CICS (PEst-OE/SAU/UI0709/2014). Luís R. Silva (SFRH/BPD/105263/2014) and Pedro F. Oliveira (PTDC/QUIBIQ/121446/2010 and Programa Ciência 2008) are indebted to FCT for the grants.