Anti-asthmatic and anxiolytic effects of Herissantia tiubae, a Brazilian medicinal plant.

Herissantia tiubae (HtE) is a Brazilian plant used in folk medicine to treat inflammatory diseases. Our aim was to determine whether the HtE has anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic effects in a murine model of asthma. Ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized BALB/c mice were treated with HtE (50, 100, or 200 mg/kg) or dexamethasone before each OVA challenge. After the last challenge, animals were subjected to anxiety tests and respiratory measurements. Following euthanasia, we quantified immune cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), serum IgE titer and cytokine levels, cellular infiltration and mucus content in the lung tissues, and cellular composition of the mediastinal lymph nodes. OVA challenge in sensitized animals caused: (1) reduction of mean respiratory and dominant respiratory rate (from 398 ± 12 to 286 ± 20 cicles per minute (cpm) and from 320 ± 14 to 162 ± 15 cpm, respectively); (2) increase in behavioral markers of anxiety tests; (3) substantial pro-inflammatory effects, including rise in OVA-specific IgE titer (from 0 to 1:2048) and these inflammatory effect diminished the titer to 1:512 after HtE treatment; rise in plasma IL-13 (from 13 ng/mL in saline to 227 ng/mL in OVA and HtE treatment restored to 1.29 ng/mL; rise in total BAL cell count (from 0.742 cells/mL in saline to 11.77 cells/mL in OVA), with prominent eosinophilia. H. tiubae extract affected respiratory parameters similarly to aminophylline, behavioral changes comparable to diazepam, and inflammation being as efficient as dexamethasone. H. tiubae extract (HtE) possesses both anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic properties in the murine model of asthma.

Total Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Some Malvaceae Family Species.

The antioxidant activity of four species of the Malvaceae family (Sidastrum micranthum (A. St.-Hil.) Fryxell, Wissadula periplocifolia (L.) C. Presl, Sida rhombifolia (L.) E. H. L and Herissantia crispa L. (Brizicky)) were studied using the total phenolic content, DPPH radical scavenging activity and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays. The antioxidant activity of the crude extract, phases and two isolated flavonoids, kaempferol 3,7-di-O-α-l-rhamnopyranoside (lespedin) and kaempferol 3-O-ß-d-(6''-E-p-coumaroil) glucopyranoside (tiliroside) was determined. The results showed that there is a strong correlation between total polyphenol contents and antioxidant activity of the crude extract of Sidastrum micranthum and Wissadula periplocifolia; however, this was not observed between Sida rhombifolia and Herissantia crispa. The ethyl acetate (EaF) phase showed the best antioxidant effect in the total phenolics, DPPH and TEAC assays, followed by the chloroform (CfF) phase, in most species tested. Lespedin, isolated from the EaF phase of W. periplocifolia and H. crispa may not be responsible for the antioxidant activity due to its low antioxidant activity (IC50: DPPH: 1,019.92 ± 68.99 mg/mL; TEAC: 52.70 ± 0.47 mg/mL); whereas tiliroside, isolated from W. periplocifolia, H. crispa and S. micrantum presented a low IC50 value (1.63 ± 0.86 mg/mL) compared to ascorbic acid in the TEAC assay.