Análise fitoquímica e avaliação das atividades anti-inflamatória, antipeçonhenta e citotóxica de extratos aquosos de Aspidosperma pyrifolium e Ipomoea asarifolia

Envenomation caused by venomous animals, mainly scorpions and snakes, are a serious matter of public health. Tityus serrulatus is considered the most venomous scorpion in South America because of the high level of toxicity of its venom. It is responsible for causing serious accidents, mainly with kids. The species Bothrops jararaca is a serpent that has in its venom a complex mixture of enzyme, peptides and other molecules. The toxins of the venom of B. jararaca induce local and systemic inflammatory responses. The treatment chosen to serious cases of envenomation is the intravenous administration of the specific antivenom. However, the treatment is not always accessible to those residents in rural areas, so that they use medicinal plant extracts as the treatment. In this context, aqueous extracts, fractions and isolated compounds of Aspidosperma pyrifolium (pereiro) and Ipomoea asarifolia (salsa, salsa-brava), used in popular medicine, were studied in this research to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity in the peritonitis models induced by carrageenan and peritonitis induced by the venom of the T. serrulatus (VTs), and in the local oedema model and inflammatory infiltrate induced by the venom of the B. jararaca, administrated intravenously. The results of the assays of cytotoxicity, using the MTT, showed that the aqueous extracts from the plant species presented low toxicity to the cells that came from the fibroblast of the mouse embryo (3T3).The chemical analysis of the extracts by High Performance Liquid Chromatography revealed the presence of the rutin flavonoid, in A. pyrifoliu, and rutin, clorogenic acid and caffeic acid, in I. asarifolia. Concerning the pharmacological evaluation, the results showed that the pre-treatment using aqueous extracts and fractions reduced the total leukocyte migration to the abdominal cavity in the peritonitis model caused by the carrageenan and in the peritonitis model induced by the T. serulatus venom. Yet, these groups presented anti-oedematous activity, in the local oedema model caused by the venom of the B. jararaca, and reduced the inflammatory infiltrate to the muscle. The serum (anti-arachnid and anti-bothropic) specific to each venom acted inhibiting the inflammatory action of the venoms and were used as control. The compounds identified in the extracts were also tested and, similar to the plant extracts, showed meaningful anti-inflammatory effects, in the tested doses. Thus, these results are indicating the potential anti-inflammatory activity of the plants studied. This is the first research that evaluated the possible biological effects of the A. pyrifolium and I. asarifolia, showing the biological potential that these species have.

O perfil sociodemográfico de pacientes em pós-operatório imediato de prostatectomia

Identificar o perfil sociodemográfico de pacientes submetidos à prostatectomia. Método: estudo quantitativo, transversal e descritivo, realizado na clínica cirúrgica de um Hospital Universitário na cidade de Natal/RN/Brasil, com 50 indivíduos em pós-operatório imediato de prostatectomia. A coleta de dados deu-se com um roteiro de anamnese e exame físico. Para a análise estatística dos dados foi utilizado o Programa Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, versão 16.0. O projeto de pesquisa foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, protocolo nº 130/10 CEP/UFRN. Resultados: os homens entrevistados tinham idade média de 67,78 anos, 80% tinham companheiros, com número de filhos variando de zero a quatro (56%). Conclusão: o conhecimento do perfil sociodemográfico dos pacientes prostatectomizados proporciona um direcionamento das ações de enfermagem frente à realidade de vida dessa clientela, uma vez que os pacientes estudados apresentaram perfil similar ao observado em outras cidades brasileiras