Avaliação do extrato aquoso da casca do caule de ceiba Speciosa (a. St.-Hill) ravenna (paineira), quanto ao potencial Antioxidante e o acúmulo lipídico utilizando caenorhabditis Elegans como modelo experimental

Abstract

Plants are widely used in folk medicine because of their pharmacological properties. One of these is Ceiba speciosa, popularly known as paineira-rosa, barriguda, tree-of-wool, among others. The species is found in the Northwest of Rio Grande do Sul being native of the upper Uruguay. Tea obtained from stem bark is employed in folk medicine to reduce cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose levels. However, there are no studies in the literature proving the efficacy of tea, nor regarding the safety of its use. For the study, an aqueous extract of the stem bark of C. speciosa was used. In vitro antioxidant activity was determined by the classical DPPH method. For the toxicological tests, C. elegans N2 (wild type) were treated with the aqueous extract of C. speciosa stem bark in the first larval stage (L1) at concentrations of 5μg / mL, 25μg / mL, 50μg / mL, 250μg / ML, for the determination of survival. For evaluation of a possible protective role, the nematodes were treated with Paraquat (0.5 mM) and Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2 1 mM) after treatment with the extract. The results of this study allowed us to observe that the acute exposure to the different concentrations of the aqueous extract of C. speciosa stem bark did not alter the survival rate nor the reproduction of C. elegans. The extract showed free radical scavenging activity in vitro, due to the large amount of phenolic compounds present in the extract. However, in vivo, it was not able to protect the nematodes against the toxicity induced by pro-oxidants (paraquat and H2O2). In addition, the aqueous extracts of C. speciosa stem bark alone did not have the capacity to reduce lipid accumulation or reduce triacylglyceride levels, nor did it affect pharyngeal beats. In particular, the extract protected against induced glucose damage, since treated animals had increased longevity that had been reduced by glucose. However, the glucose-induced accumulation of lipids was not diminished by treatment with the extracts. Despite the preliminary results, we believe that the extract is promising for further studies in relation to the hyperglycemia model in C. elegans.