Screening of Brazilian plants for antimicrobial and dnadamaging activities: I. Atlantic rain forest . Ecological station juréia-itatins

Authors

  • Débora Gomes Agripino Instituto de Botânica
  • Marcos Enoque Leite Lima Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Química
  • Marcelo Rogério da Silva Instituto de Botânica
  • Cristiane Infante Meda Instituto de Botânica
  • Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani Universidade Estadual Paulista, Instituto de Química
  • Inês Cordeiro Instituto de Botânica
  • Maria Claudia Marx Young Instituto de Botânica
  • Paulo Roberto H. Moreno Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Química

Keywords:

Atlantic Rain forest, Antibacterial activity, Antifungal activity, antitumoral activity, plants screening

Abstract

I. Atlantic Rain Forest . Ecological Station Juréia-Itatins) Crude extracts from 88 plant species occurring in São Paulo State (Brazil), collected in an Atlantic Forest region, have been screened for antimicrobial and DNA-damaging activities. Of the 114 extracts assayed for antibacterial activity, only the extracts from leaves and stems of Aspidosperma ramiflorum (Apocynaceae) showed a slight activity against Escherichia coli. In the antifungal assay with Candida albicans, no active extract was observed, while in the bioautography assay with Cladosporium sphaerospermum and C. cladosporioides 12% were active. However, only the extract of Psychotria mapoureoides (Rubiaceae) stems showed a strong inhibition of both fungi. The DNA-damaging assay with mutant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae resulted in 17.5 % of active extracts. The majority (55 %) of the active extracts showed selectivity for the DNA-repair mechanism of topoisomerase II and only 20 % showed a selective response for the mechanism of topoisomerase I.
Issue Cover Vol.: 4 Num: 2

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Published

2004-01-01

How to Cite

Agripino, D. G., Lima, M. E. L., Silva, M. R. da, Meda, C. I., Bolzani, V. da S., Cordeiro, I., Young, M. C. M., & Moreno, P. R. H. (2004). Screening of Brazilian plants for antimicrobial and dnadamaging activities: I. Atlantic rain forest . Ecological station juréia-itatins. Biota Neotropica, 4(2). Retrieved from //www.biotaneotropica.org.br/BN/article/view/1578

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2004): v4n2

Section

Articles

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