Pulp residue from Caryocar brasiliense: standardization, through phytochemical and antioxidant tests, of the best extraction method of phenolic compounds and preliminary evaluation of their antineoplastic activity in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

• Grant number: 23/12062-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Ethnopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Lucinéia dos Santos
• Grantee: Natalia Alves Zoppe
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In recent years, phytotherapy has gained great visibility and confidence in its numerous advantages in the treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer. In addition, the use of bioactive compounds from plant species native to Brazil results in the appreciation of the plant biodiversity of the biomes that suffer more and more from the environment degradation. The fruit of Caryocar brasiliense Camb, a species native to the Cerrado, presents several compounds such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antineoplastic action. These activities mainly result from the phenolic compounds present in high concentrations in the pequi fruit, concentrations higher than those found in most fruits consumed in Brazil. Therefore, considering their medicinal properties and the need, according to the United Nations (UN), to intensify research on technologies for converting residues of this nature into useful resources for society, the residue of the fruit of the pequi is a great candidate for the development of new herbal medicines with antineoplastic activity that complement conventional treatments, in hepatocarcinoma, the third malignant disease that causes the most deaths in the world. Thereby, this project aims to determine, throughphytochemical and antioxidant tests, the best method of extracting the phenolics compounds present in the pequi pulp residue, a material that is usually discarded after processing the fruit to remove its oil and then evaluate its in vitro cytotoxicity by MTT in healthy cells of fibroblasts and its in vitro antineoplastic activity by MTT in liver cancer cells.