Short-term effects of fire on small rodents in the Brazilian Cerrado and their relation with feeding habits

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Phenolic compounds and antioxidant, antimicrobial and antimycobacterial activities of Serjania erecta Radlk. (Sapindaceae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Cerrado vegetation and global change: the role of functional types, resource availability and disturbance in regulating plant community responses to rising CO2 levels and climate warming

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Development of a knowledge-based system for cogeneration plant design: Verification, validation and lessons learned

This paper presents the development of a knowledge-based system (KBS) prototype able to design natural gas cogeneration plants, demonstrating new features for this field. The design of such power plants represents a synthesis problem, subject to thermodynamic constraints that include the location and sizing of components. The project was developed in partnership with the major Brazilian gas and oil company, and involved interaction with an external consultant as well as an interdisciplinary team. The paper focuses on validation and lessons learned, concentrating on important aspects such as the generation of alternative configuration schemes, breadth of each scheme description created by the system, and its module to support economic feasibility analysis. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dimeric Flavonoids from Arrabidaea brachypoda and Assessment of Their Anti-Trypanosoma cruzi Activity

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Flavonoid Detection in Hydroethanolic Extract of Pouteria torta (Sapotaceae) Leaves by HPLC-DAD and the Determination of Its Mutagenic Activity

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Does fire induce flowering in Brazilian subtropical grasslands?

QuestionsWe aimed to analyse the effect of fire on flowering in subtropical grasslands, by addressing the following questions: will fire history affect flowering? If yes, do fire feedbacks influence flowering or is it just the removal of above-ground biomass? Are there differences in burned and mowed plots?LocationSubtropical grasslands in Southern Brazil (30 degrees 03S, 51 degrees 07W).MethodsWe established plots in areas with different fire histories: 30d (30 plots: five replicates), 1yr (14 replicates), 3yr (30 plots: five replicates) since the last fire, in experimentally burned and mowed plots (14 replicates each). We counted the number of flowering species, as well as the number of flowering stalks.ResultsGraminoid species flowered in highest numbers 1yr after fire, whilst forbs had more species flowering just after fire, indicating different reproductive strategies in post-fire environments. Mowing was not as efficient as fire in stimulating flowering. Finally, the different functional groups showed different flowering responses to time since last fire and to the different types of management.ConclusionsOur results show fire stimulated flowering. Although mowing can be a good alternative for maintaining plant diversity, our study showed that this practice is not as efficient as fire in stimulating flowering. However, fire season should be noted as a limiting factor to the recovery of C-3 grasses in these subtropical grasslands, and annual burns may be harmful to C-4 grasses, since they delay their flowering to the next post-fire growing season.

Characterization and Quantification of the Compounds of the Ethanolic Extract from Caesalpinia ferrea Stem Bark and Evaluation of Their Mutagenic Activity

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Avaliação da atividade anti-inflamatória e antinociceptiva do extrato hidroalcoólico de Eugenia punicifolia (Kunth) DC

Inflammation is an immune complex-related tissue damage and / or cell caused by chemical, physical, immunological or microbial. The inflammatory process involves a complex cascade of biochemical and cellular events, including awareness and receptor activation, lysis and tissue repair. In general, tissue damage trigger a local inflammatory response by recruiting leukocytes, which release inflammatory mediators. These substances are able to sensitize nociceptors. After synaptic transmission and signal modulation by nociceptive sensory neurons, these signals are perceived as pain. Pain is an experience that involves multiple factors. The route of the supraspinal pain control originates in many brain regions, such as substance periarquedutal gray (PAG), median raphe nucleus and rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) and have a critical role in determining the chronic and acute pain. Anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used to control inflammation, which inhibit the inflammatory mediators, but can cause side effects such as stomach ulcers and cardiovascular damage. An alternative for the treatment of pain and inflammation is the use of plant species. The genus Eugenia belongs to the family Myrtaceae, one of the largest botanical families of expression in the Brazilian ecosystems. From the pharmacological point of view, studies of similar species crude extracts showed the presence of anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antifungal, hypotensive, antidiabetic and antioxidant activity of some species. As a class of importance in therapeutic phytochemical, the flavonoids has represented an important group with significant anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective, and are present in a significant way in the chemical composition of genus Eugenia. The project´s overall objective is to evaluate the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities from hydroalcoholic extract of leaves of Eugenia punicifolia (EHEP). In this work we performed acute toxicity ...

Antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective effects of a hydroalcoholic extract from the leaves of Eugenia punicifolia (Kunth) DC. in rodents

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Identification of quinolactin alkaloids from fungi associated to Brazilian red algae Dichotomaria marginata by LC-PDA-MS and LC-MSn

Fungi isolated from marine organisms have been shown to produce several interesting secondary metabolites with important biological activities. Such chemical diversity may be associated to environmental stress conditions and may represent an important source of NCE for bioprospection. Quinolactins belong to a rare fungi-alkaloid class with a unique N-methyl-quinolone moiety fused to a lactam ring and present several bioactivities1. Fungi strain Dm1 was isolated from red alga Dichotomaria marginata, collected from Brazil SE coast, and was grown in sterile rice solid media at 26oC 2, which was then extracted with MeOH. The MeCN fr. from the MeOH extract was chromatographed over Sephadex LH-20 and fr. 4 afforded quinolactin (QL) alkaloids B1, B2 and A, whereas fr. 5 afforded quinolactin D1 after purification by HPLC-DAD. Structural determination of pure compounds was based on HRMS, UV, and NMR spectral analyses, in addition to comparison with literature data and Antimarin® databank. UV data indicated the presence of similar chromophores with λmax at ca. 247 and 320nm. HRMS and tandem MS analyses using both negative and positive ion modes for the isolated compounds indicated their molecular formula and structural features, as for QL B1: C15H16O2N2 [M+H 257], which showed one fragment at m/z 214 [-CHNO]; QL B2: C15H16O3N2 [M+H 273], with product ions at m/z 230 [-CHNO.] and m/z 186 [-C4H9NO.]; for QL A: C16H18N2O2 [M+H 271], which presented one ion at m/z 214, due to loss of fragment (-C4H9) from the molecular ion; and for QL D1: C16H18N2O3 [M+H 287], with product ions at m/z 186 [-CHNO] and m/z 230 [-C4H9]. Such data suggested fragmentation proposals, e.g. for Quinolactin B1 (Fig. 1), which confirmed the structures of the isolated quinolactins, and may represent an important contribution for the sustainable exploration of marine biodiversity.

New steroidal saponins and antiulcer activity from Solanum paniculatum L.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Antitumor Activity of Kielmeyera Coriacea Leaf Constituents in Experimental Melanoma, Tested in Vitro and in Vivo in Syngeneic Mice

Purpose: The antitumor activity of Kielmeyera coriacea (Clusiaceae), a medicinal plant used in the treatment of parasitic, as well as fungal and bacterial infections by the Brazilian Cerrado population, was investigated. Methods: A chloroform extract (CE) of K. coriacea was tested in the murine melanoma cell line (B16F10-Nex2) and a panel of human tumor cell lines. Tumor cell migration was determined by the wound-healing assay and the in vivo antitumor activity of CE was investigated in a melanoma cell metastatic model. 1H NMR and GC/MS were used to determine CE chemical composition. Results: We found that CE exhibited strong cytotoxic activity against murine melanoma cells and a panel of human tumor cell lines in vitro. CE also inhibited growth of B16F10- Nex2 cells at sub lethal concentrations, inducing cell cycle arrest at S phase, and inhibition of tumor cell migration. Most importantly, administration of CE significantly reduced the number of melanoma metastatic nodules in vivo. Chemical analysis of CE indicated the presence of the long chain fatty compounds, 1-eicosanol, 1-docosanol, and 2-nonadecanone as main constituents. Conclusion: These results indicate that K. coriacea is a promising medicinal plant in cancer therapy exhibiting antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo against different tumor cell lines.

Evaluation of allelopathic potential of leaf extract of kielmeyera coriacea on lactuca sativa l

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Phytotoxicity of Solanum aculeatissimum Jacq: leaves extract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the phytotoxicity of Solanum aculeatissimum Jacq. leaves ethanolic extract in seeds germination, development and fixation of Lactuca sativa seedlings. The same study also aimed to assess the mitotic index of lettuce roots meristematic cells, quantification of phenols and total flavonoids and triage by mean of phytochemical testing of the main secondary metabolites classes. Bioassays of germination, development of root and hypocotyl were carried out in Petri dishes using achenes of Lactuca sativa L. cv. 'Grand Rapids' (lettuce). Concomitantly, were evaluated the physico-chemical characteristics (pH, osmotic potential and electrical conductivity), mitotic index, quantification of total phenols and flavonoids and determination of phytochemical profile of the treatments extract. The results obtained in the bioassays demonstrate that the ethanol extract of S. aculeatissimuma presents phytotoxic potential in the development of lettuce seedlings, given that the concentration of 20 mg/ml showed greater inhibition (41% of germination). The extract contains significant amounts of antioxidants, total flavonoid and phenols, where the concentration 1000µg/mL showed higher values (86.50%). Furthermore, it was possible to observe the presence of compounds with allelopathic activity in the phytochemical screening test as coumarins, tannins, terpenes, flavonoids and alkaloids. Given the above it is clear that the ethanolic extract of S. aculeatissimum presents allelopathic substances with phytotoxic activity that can affect the germination and development of other plant species in their natural environment.