Avaliação preliminar da composição química, atividade antimicrobiana e genotoxicidade de Sisyrinchium vaginatum spreng

Abstract

Plants are a rich source of pharmacologically active compounds. They potentially for great the development of new drugs. In this sense, Sisyrinchium vaginatum (Canchalágua) emerges as a therapeutic resource, being widely used in popular medicine of the northwest region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in the treatment for urinary tract, intestinal infections, like anthelmintic, in the menstrual pain and for weight loss purposes. Considering the importance of Sisyrinchium vaginatum in popular use and the lack of scientific data, studies investigating the chemical composition, pharmacological activities, safety and efficacy of this species are extremely important. The goal of this work was to investigate the chemical composition of Sisyrinchium vaginatum, to evaluate its antimicrobial potential, attesting its reported popular use. Also, to genotoxicity and mutagenicity in vitro, in order to prove the safety of this species for use in the treatment of diseases. For that purpose, the aqueous extract of S. vaginatum was prepared by decoction, according to the popular use method. The crude methanolic extract obtained by maceration of the vegetal material and from this carried out fractionation using solvents of increasing polarity. S. vaginatum presented low to moderate potential as an antimicrobial agent. However, no inhibition of the tested strains was observed against the aqueous extract of the plant, questioning its popular use, by ingestion of teas for the treatment of urinary infections. In addition, it was possible to observe by the cell viability test that in the concentrations of the aqueous extract (10, 100 and 200 μg/mL) were able to cause damage to the cell membrane, proving to be cytotoxic. On the other hand, the comet and micronuclei tests did not present significant results in any of the tested concentrations, however, it was not possible to prove their safety in their popular use. Therefore, this work represents the first evaluation related to the characterization of the species, the safety and effectiveness of its therapeutic use.