Evaluation of morpho-anatomical and chemical differences between varieties of the medicinal plant Casearia sylvestris Swartz.

Casearia sylvestris Swartz (Salicaceae) has been used in traditional medicine and its leaf extracts have been exhibited important pharmacological activities. The species presents morphological, chemical and genetic variation. Two varieties are considered due external morphological differences: C. sylvestris var. sylvestris and var. lingua. There are difficulties in definition of these varieties. The objective of this work is to evaluate chemical and morpho-anatomical differences between C. sylvestris varieties that can be applied in their distinction for pharmaceutical or botanical purposes. Transverse and paradermic sections of leaves were prepared for morpho-anatomical, histochemical and quantitative microscopy (stomatal and palisade index) analyses. Diterpene profiles of the specimens were obtained by HPLC-DAD and TLC. Morpho-anatomical analyses demonstrated significant differences between the varieties only in paradermic sections: var. sylvestris--polygonal epidermic cell walls and hypostomatic; var. lingua--rounded epidermic cell walls and amphistomatic. No differences were observed for stomatal index; palisade index was found 2.8 for var. lingua and 3.9 for var. sylvestris. Chromatographic analyses confirmed previous results demonstrating that diterpene profile in varieties differs, with predominance of these metabolites in var. sylvestris. In conclusion, this work indicates that chromatographic analysis besides morpho-anatomical analysis can be applied in distinction of C. sylvestris varieties.

Three new acylated glycosides from the stems of Casearia velutina and their protective effect against H2O2-induced impairment in PC12 cells.

Chemical investigation of the stems of Casearia velutina led to the isolation and structural elucidation of three new acylated glycosides, casearicosides A-C (1-3), together with 13 known compounds. The structures of the new compounds were established by spectroscopic and chemical methods. These isolates were evaluated for protective effects against H(2)O(2)-induced impairment in PC12 cells and inhibitory activity against snake venom phosphodiesterase I. A brief chemotaxonomy of the genus Casearia is also discussed.