Potencial antioxidante do ácido p-cumárico e avaliação do efeito sobre atividade locomotora em Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

With the increase in life expectancy, the number of diseases diagnosed by aging increases as the neurodegenerative diseases can be caused by oxidative stress. Phenolic compounds exhibit antioxidant activity as oxidative stress regulators. P-coumaric acid is a phenolic acid possessing antioxidant and free radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. The present study aims to evaluate the antioxidant potential of p-coumaric acid and its effect on locomotor activity in Drosophila melanogaster. First, the antioxidant potential of the compound was evaluated by the 2,2- diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH) and the 2,2'-azino-bis (3- ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical (ABTS) . For the in vivo tests flies with 1-4 days of age were used, were divided into 6 treatment groups containing 50 flies in each: (1) control, (2) ethanol, p-coumaric acid at concentrations of (3) 0.03 mM, (4) 0.1 mM, (5) 0.3 mM and (6) 1 mM these were subjected to treatment for 72 h. . The survival rate, locomotor and exploratory activity were evaluated by the open field and negative geotaxia tests. As results we obtained in the tests of evaluation of the antioxidant activity of the compound in vitro, by the DPPH method the parameters for EC₅₀ were zero and maximum inhibition of 24.42%, but in the ABTS method the compound showed to have antioxidant power having as EC₅₀ 0, 05mM, and maximum inhibition of 92.42%. Flies were counted daily to assess survival in this context, the 0.3 mM concentration of p-coumaric acid increased the survival of the flies. Regarding the behavioral tests in the open-field test, the flies that received in their diet the concentration of 0.3 mM of p-coumaric acid obtained the highest number of crosses, that is, increased their locomotor activity. Negative geotaxia showed that the flies that received 1mM concentration of p-coumaric acid in their diet decreased the time of scale. Therefore, it can be concluded that p-coumaric acid is a potent antioxidant in our in vitro results and this fact may increase the locomotor activity, scale capacity and shelflife of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies.