Evaluation of the influence of genetic and developmental factors on the secondary metabolism of Lippia sidoides Cham.

• Grant number: 22/08105-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Pharmacognosy
• Principal Investigator: Alexandra Christine Helena Frankland Sawaya
• Grantee: Gabriela Parolin Trindade
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The contemporary world, as studies have been carried out to prove the effectiveness of such plants and less aggressive medicines to the body have been searched by the population. Among the Brazilian species, Lippia sidoides is commonly used for several therapeutic applications due to its antimicrobial and medicinal properties as treatments for abdominal pain, rhinitis, inflammatory and respiratory infections. This project aims to evaluate the effect of genetic and developmental factors, i.e. the access site of the individuals and the stages of leaf development, respectively, in the chemical composition of bioactives compounds originated mainly from the plant secondary metabolism. Thus, leaves were collected in eight stages of development from different individuals, which were frozen at -80ºC and lyophilized to obtain the plant drug. The extraction process will be optimized and carried out in the proportion of 2-10 mg of plant drug to 1 mL of solvent (i.e. water, ethanol and water-ethanol). Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) method will be developed and optimized in reverse phase using ultrapure water and 0,1% formic acid (v/v) (A) and acetonitrile (B) as mobile phases. Analyzes will be carried out with fragmentation of compounds (UHPLC-MS/MS) in order to identify the fixed compounds of the extracts and the results will be processed in the R software. Then, the statistical and chemometric analyses will be conducted in MetaboAnalyst. Such a study is important given the lack of research on the fixed bioactives compounds of L. sidoides in the literature.