Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of Lavandula spp.

Lavenders have been used in folk medicine as disinfectant, expectorant, analgesic, anti-spasmodic, laxative and stimulant. Some species are endemic of Iberian Peninsula and often found in the Portuguese montado, including Lavandula stoechas subsp. luisieri and Lavandula pedunculata. The investigation of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of the Portuguese montado flora is very poor and restricted to a few botanical families, and their biological activities are mainly attributed to the essential oils. So, it is crucial to know the properties of Lavandula EOs, contributing for animal health and the valorisation of Portuguese montado flora. The aim of this study was to evaluate chemical composition, antioxidant properties and screening anti-inflammatory potential of EOs and extracts of Lavandula stoechas L. subsps. luisieri Rozeira, Lavandula pedunculata (Mill.) Cav. subsp. pedunculata and Lavandula viridis L’Hér, wild grown in the south of Portugal.

Séries de vegetação prioritárias para a conservação no centro e sul de Portugal continental

Como corolário de vários estudos geobotânicos realizados, no sudoeste Ibérico, no âmbito do seminário internacional Gestão e Conservação da Biodiversidade VIII, apresentou-se uma conferência sobre as principais séries de vegetação prioritárias para a conservação no centro e sul de Portugal continental. Assim, neste trabalho, após uma breve introdução apresenta-se uma súmula da caracterização biofísica deste território e um conjunto de séries singulares destas superfícies. Assim, selecionaram-se as séries de vegetação potencial climatófilas, edafoxerófilas e edafo-higrófilas que possuem, do ponto de vista corológico ou florístico, maior originalidade. Dentro destas, com elevado valor conservacionista, destacam-se quatro séries de sobreirais de Quercus suber, seis carvalhais de folha marcescente (três de Quercus broteroi, uma de Quercus canariensis, uma de Quercus marianaica e uma de Quercus pyrenaica), seis de zimbrais (quatro de Juniperus turbinata, uma de Juniperus navicularis e uma de Juniperus oxycedrus subsp. lagunae), um carrascal arbóreo (Quercus rivasmartinezii), um zambujal (Olea europaea var. sylvestris), um salgueiral (Salix salviifolia subsp. australis) e duas comunidades arborescentes de cursos de água torrenciais (Nerium oleander e Flueggea tinctoria). Porém, algumas destas séries encerram o seu volar, particularmente nas suas etapas seriais, essencialmente devido à presença de plantas endémicas e/ou com estatuto de proteção legal. Neste sentido, salienta-se ainda ao nível da série, a sinecologia, a sincorologia e a sinestrutura. Contudo, a revisão da dinâmica serial e os trabalhos de campo efectuados recentemente, permitiram a identificação de uma nova associação vegetal descrita no presente trabalho, no âmbito das séries de Aro neglecti-Querco suberis sigmetum. Finalmente expõem-se alguns dados relativos ao estado de conservação das etapas seriais mais próximas do clímax, apresentando-se sugestões que visam a recuperação e valorização destes habitats boscosos, tendo em vista a criação e consolidação de uma estratégia nacional de conservação.

Análisis de la dimensión fractal del género Quercus en el sur de Italia

En estudios anteriores propusimos un nuevo método para el estudio del género Quercus (Musarella et al., 2013), baseado en la dimensión fractal (DF). En este trabajo analizamos la DF del género Quercus en el sur de Italia, para ello utilizamos hojas de árboles pertenecientes a Q. robur subsp. brutia, Q. cerris, Q. congesta, Q. crenata, Q. ilex, Q. suber, Q. virginiana. De cada árbol se toman hojas de cada uno de los puntos cardinales para complejiada de la estructura morfológica de las hojas. Este análisis extrae información sobre los caracteres fenotípicos de las hojas utilizadas, tales como el número y morfologia de los nervios, ángulos nervios secundarios con principal, contorno de hojas, aspecto reticulado de la hoja etc. En nuestro análisis, no se han detectado diferencias significativas entre la DF en cada una de la orientaciones y la DF global para cada una de las especies. En este trabajo corroboramos estudios anteriores realizados por los autores, en los que se proponía una DF < 1,6 para Quercus esclerófilos y DF entre dos especies sea cero o su cociente sea uno, el grado de parentesco entre las dos especies es del 100%; DFA - DFB = 0; DFA/DFB = 1, la especie Ay B son iguales; por ello cuanto menor es la diferencia o bien cuanto más se acerque el cociente a 1, mayor es la semejanza entre las especies. Si este cociente tiene un valor alejado de 1 como ocurre entre vfvi/vfsu>2, las especies Q. virginiana y Q. suber están muy distantes entre sí. Además, la realización del Test de Rango Múltiple, que es un procedimiento de comparación para determinar cuáles medias son significativamente diferentes unas de otras, confirma los resultados obtenidos de la forma anteriormente expuesta. Conto et al. (2007) ponen de manifiesto el origen hibridógeno de Q. crenata, y según el análisis molecular existe una mayor similitud genética entre Q. crenata y Q. cerris, que entre Q. crenata y Q. suber. Los DF de Q. crenata 1,868; Q. cerris 1,677 y Q. suber 0,932; siendo DFQsu 0,745 y DFQsu = 1,8, lo que significa que existe gran diferencia fenotípica (genética) entre los parentales, se presenta una mayor semejanza entre Q. crenata y Q. cerris que entre Q. crenata y Q. suber, ya que la diferencia DFQcr-DFQce = 0,191 y DFQcr/DFQce = 1,1, por lo que tienen un fuerte grado de semejanza, mientras que DFQcr-DFQsu = 0,936 y DFQcr/DFQsu > 2, lo que pone de manifiesto las fuertes diferencias fenotípicas entre el híbrido y el parental.

Phytosociology of the remaining xerophytic woodland associated to an environmental gradient at the banks of the São Francisco river - Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil1

Floristic and phytosociological surveys were carried out for 12 months in the Embrapa-SPSB, Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil. A transect was laid on starting at the river bank extending for 790 m away from the river and divided into 140 10 × 10 m contiguous plots. In each plot, all standing plants, alive or dead, with stem diameter at soil level ? 3 cm and total height ? 1 m were sampled. Along this transect, an elevation range of 9.40 m was registered and five topographical environments were identified: riverside (MR), dike (D), floodable depression (DI), boundary terrace (TL) - all of them belonging to the fluvial terrace with Fluvic Neosol and Haplic Cambisol both silty textured eutrophic soils - and the inlander tableland (TS), with medium sandy-textured Red-Yellow Argisols. Fourty-eight species/morphospecies, distributed into 39 genera and 21 families, were identified. Four phytogeoenvironments (MR, D + TL, DI + TL, and TS) were registered based on environmental variations and floristic similarities among plots using cluster analyses. The MR environment showed the largest total density, total basal area, maximum and medium heights and maximum diameter. Moreover, it had 8.1% of plants with heights above 8 m against 0.6% for D + TL, 0.2% for DI + TL, and 0% for TS. The species with the largest importance value were Inga vera subsp. affinis (DC.) T.D. Pennington in MR, Mimosa bimucronata Kunth in D + TL and DI + TL and M. tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir. in TS.

Study of medicinal and food plants as a source of biologically active compounds.

In the last few decades, scientific evidence has pointed out the health-beneficial effects of phenolic compounds in foods, including a decrease in risk of developing degenerative and chronic diseases, known to be caused by oxidative stress. In this frame can be inserted research carried out during my PhD thesis, which concerns the phytochemical investigation of phenolic composition in sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.), apple fruits (Malus domestica L.) and quinoa seeds (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). The first project was focused on the investigation of phytochemical profile and nutraceutical value of fruits of new sweet cherry cultivars. Their phenolic profile and antioxidant activity were investigated and compared with those of commonly commercialized cultivars. Their nutraceutical value was evaluated in terms of antioxidant/neuroprotective capacity in neuron-like SH-SY5Y cells, in order to investigate their ability to counteract the oxidative stress and/or neurodegeneration process The second project was focused on phytochemical analysis of phenolic compounds in apples of ancient cultivars with the aim of selecting the most diverse cultivars, that will then be assayed for their anti-carcinogenic and anti-proliferative activities against the hepato-biliary and pancreatic tumours. The third project was focused on the analysis of polyphenolic pattern of seeds of two quinoa varieties grown at different latitudes. Analysis of phenolic profile and in vitro antioxidant activity of seed extracts both in their free and soluble-conjugated forms, showed that the accumulation of some classes of flavonoids is strictly regulated by environmental factors, even though the overall antioxidant capacity does not differ in quinoa Regalona grown in Chile and Italy. During the internship period carried out at the Department of Organic Chemistry at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), it was achieved the isolation of two pentacyclic triterpenoids, from an endemic Peruvian plant, Jatropha macrantha Müll. Arg., with bio-guided fractionation technique.