Antifungal and antioxidant activities of Avicennia schaueriana Stapf & Leech. and comparison of the chemical profile at different locations

• Grant number: 12/04364-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Applied Botany
• Principal Investigator: Maria Claudia Marx Young
• Grantee: Kássia Mantovan Fardin
• Host Institution: Instituto de Botânica. Secretaria de Meio Ambiente, Infraestrutura e Logística (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Plants are important in the discovery of new drugs, because they provide active ingredients for the synthesis of new drugs, which are based on chemical models derived from secondary compounds of plant. The secondary plant metabolism synthesizes compounds that contribute to defense against predators, attraction of pollinators, or remaining in its ecosystem, and thus can provide important biological activities for use in the pharmaceutical industry. Because absence of knowledge about the diversity of plants, their study can bring great benefit for the economy and to the pharmacology of drugs contributing to use sustainable of natural resources. Therefore, our group has worked in bioprospecting of native plants with biological activities in the state of Sao Paulo in areas of Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. These trials indicated some species, Avicennia schaueriana among them, selected for this study because of your high antioxidant and antifungal activities detected in extracts obtained from their stems and leaves. Avicennia schaueriana is popularly known as black mangrove or Siriuba. The genus Avicennia belongs to the family Acanthaceae, and is chemically characterized by the presence of iridoid glycosides, flavonoids, diterpenes, naphthoquinones, etc.., but not there phytochemical studies with A. schaueriana. Thus, due of absence of phytochemical studies with the specie, this project aims to compare the chemical profile of A. schaueriana collected in two different locations and obtain the responsible compounds for the antifungal and antioxidant activities.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FARDIN, K. M.; YOUNG, M. C. M.. Antifungal potential of Avicennia schaueriana Stapf & Leech. (Acanthaceae) against Cladosporium and Colletotrichum species. Letters in Applied Microbiology, v. 61, n. 1, p. 50-57, JUL 2015. (12/04364-4)