Efeitos do óleo essencial das folhas de eugenia sulcata sobre a contratilidade miocárdica de ratos e a imunotoxicidade em linfócitos humanos

Abstract

Eugenia sulcata is a plant of the family Myrtaceae, known as pitanguinha and murtinha. The Eugenia genus is rich in essential oil secreting structures, whose composition may have gastrointestinal, hypoglycemic, antirheumatic and other effects. The major components of the leaves essential oil this species are: β-caryophyllene (24.6%), α-pinene (17.2%), β-pinene (10.9%) and 1,8-cineole (5,6%). In previous studies we have described the hypotensive and antihypertensive effects of this oil. This study aims to evaluate myocardial contractility as well as to analyze the activities of cardiac enzymes, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and myosin ATPase. Wistar Kyoto (WK) and spontaneously hypertensive animals (SHR), treated with the essential oil for 30 days, were used. In addition, we evaluated the immunotoxicity of essential oil at three different concentrations (1, 10 and 100 μg / mL) in human lymphocytes. Lymphocyte cultures were used to evaluate cytotoxicity, DNA damage, and mutagenicity. The results demonstrate that the treatment did not changes the cardiac contraction force, did not alter the functioning of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (RS) and the extrusion of membrane calcium, did not modify the membrane calcium channels nor the β adrenergic receptor activity. Tetanic contractions were potentiated in the SHR animals. The myosin ATPase activity was also increased in the SHR animals and the cardiac ACE activity showed a reduction in both animal strains and the serum ACE only in SHR. It was still found that all oil concentrations did not cause cytotoxicity or mutagenicity and presented low DNA damage. Therefore the essential oil does not changes myocardial contractility and does not present relevant immunotoxicity. Eugenia sulcata presents little data in the literature, both chemical and biological, making the scientific evidence of empirically attributed effects extremely useful, to be sure that these plants will have the effect for which they are used.