Leishmanicidal and antichemotactic activities of icetexanes from Salvia uliginosa Benth.

BACKGROUND: Several species of Salvia are used as medicinal plants around the world. Biological activities of isolated compounds have been described, being diterpenes frequently responsible for the effects. PURPOSE: Isolation of diterpenes from Salvia uliginosa Benth. and evaluation of the antichemotactic and leishmanicidal activities of the isolated compounds. STUDY DESIGN: To isolate diterpenes from S. uliginosa and evaluate their antichemotactic and leishmanicidal activities in vitro. METHODS: The exudate of S. uliginosa was obtained by rapidly dipping the aerial parts in dichloromethane. The compounds were isolated by repeated column chromatography over silica gel. The effects on L. amazonensis growth, survival, DNA degradation, ROS generation, as well as the antichemotactic activity and cytotoxicity of the compounds towards human erythrocytes and macrophages were evaluated. RESULTS: A novel icetexane diterpene, isoicetexone (IsoICT) along with the known diterpenes icetexone (ICT), and 7-acetoxy-6,7-dihydroicetexone were isolated from the dichloromethane surface exudate of S. uliginosa. The structures were elucidated using NMR and MS experiments, and by comparison with previously reported data. IsoICT and ICT at low concentrations caused completely inhibition of neutrophils migration in vitro. In addition, IsoICT and ICT showed high leishmanicidal activity against L. amazonensis, induced ROS production in parasites and presented low cytotoxicity against macrophages and human erythrocytes, and moderate to high selectivity index. CONCLUSION: These data indicated that IsoICT and ICT exhibit potent antichemotactic and leishmanicidal effects. Further studies are needed in order to evaluate the in vivo activities as well as the toxicity of the compounds.

Influence of Harvest Season and Cultivar on the Variation of Phenolic Compounds Composition and Antioxidant Properties in Vaccinium ashei Leaves.

The effect of variation of harvest season and cultivar on the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), HPLC-UV/DAD profile and antioxidant properties in Vaccinium ashei (Rabbiteye blueberry) leaves grown in Brazil was evaluated. The cultivars collected in December and March were Aliceblue, Powderblue, Climax, Bluegem and FloridaM. It was observed that leaves from March had the highest TPC values (222 ± 1 mg gallic acid equivalents/g to Aliceblue cultivar) and highest TFC values (49.8 ± 0.8 and 48.7 ± 0.7 µg rutin/g to Clímax and Powderblue cultivars, respectively). The chromatographic profile was quantitatively similar, however, the proportions of each compound were influenced by cultivar and harvest season. Chlorogenic acid and rutin were the main identified phenolic compounds, but chlorogenic acid was the most abundant in both harvest seasons. Antioxidant capacities values ranged from 5.80 ± 0.04 to 105 ± 2 µg/mL (DPPH) and 178 ± 5 to 431 ± 8 mmol Trolox/100 g (ORAC). The cultivar Bluegem by March had the highest values in both assays. The results indicate that the blueberry leaves from different cultivars and harvest seasons have different phenolic compounds content and different antioxidant capacities. In addition, the antioxidant properties demonstrated a high correlation with rutin content.