Eugenia species have been appreciated for their edible fruits and medicinal properties. This paper aims to investigate the chemical composition and in vitro antileishmanial, antifungal and ...antiproliferative activities of essential oil from aerial parts of Eugenia pyriformis (EP-EO). The oil showed strong antileishmanial activity against promastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis (IC
50
= 2.16 µg/mL). It also exhibited high antifungal activity against Malassezia furfur (MIC = 30 µg/mL), which was determined by the broth microdilution method. Its antiproliferative activity was evaluated against the following cells: GM07429A (normal cell), MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma), HeLa (human cervical adenocarcinoma) and M059J (human glioblastoma). Its major constituents, which were determined by GC-FID and GC-MS, were limonene (14.8%), nerolidol (11.0%), α-cadinol (10.3%), caryophyllene oxide (9.9%) and β-pinene (7.1%). These results showed, for the first time, the effectiveness of EP-EO as a natural product which has promising biological activities, a fact that enables its ethnopharmacological use.
This study aimed to isolate and identify flavonoids with hypoglycemic activity in Costus spiralis leaves. The methanolic extract (ME) was rich in flavonoids, while the powdered leaves (PL) contained ...considerable amounts of macro‐ and microelements. Oral acute treatment of streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced diabetic rats for 18 h with the C. spiralis PL, ME and isolated guaijaverin (GUA) lowered glycemia, improved oral glucose tolerance and inhibited liver lipid peroxidation. GUA and ME lowered plasma levels of low‐density and non‐high density lipoproteins; GUA also lowered total cholesterol levels. PL, ME and GUA did not significantly alter the plasma levels of triglycerides, high‐density lipoproteins, very low‐density lipoproteins, creatinine and aspartate transaminase, and the total protein levels in the kidney and liver tissues. Therefore, C. spiralis leaves are promising raw materials and rich sources of bioactive flavonoids for the development of novel antidiabetic drugs due to their hypoglycemic, antidyslipidemic and antioxidant actions.
In Brazilian folk medicine, Spiranthera odoratissima has been used to treat rheumatism, infection and abdominal pain. Essential oils (EOs) are technological options that may be employed in natural ...foods due to their antimicrobial activities. This paper aimed to investigate the chemical composition and in vitro antibacterial effects of EOs from 'S. odoratissima' leaves and flowers against foodborne and spoilage bacteria 'Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Yersinia enterocolitica, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Clostridium botulinum, Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa'. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of EOs were calculated by the broth microdilution method on 96-well microplates. Both GC-FID and GC-MS analyses revealed that the major components determined in EOs from 'S. odoratissima' leaves were beta-caryophyllene (23.8%), bicyclogermacrene (10.8%) and delta-cadinene (7.1%). Major constituents found in EOs from its flowers were beta-caryophyllene (14.1%), spathulenol (8.1%) and gamma-cadinene (7.2%). EOs from 'S. odoratissima' leaves and flowers showed strong antibacterial activity against 'Yersinia enterocolitica' (MIC = 0.30 mg/mL), 'Staphylococcus aureus' (MIC = 0.12 mg/mL), 'Clostridium botulinum' (MIC = 0.30 mg/mL), 'Bacillus cereus' (MIC = 0.20 mg/mL) and 'Listeria monocytogenes' (MIC = 0.25 mg/mL). These EOs could be important natural alternatives to prevent bacterial growth in food products.
Spiranthera odoratissima A. St. Hil. (Rutaceae), a plant grown in midwestern Brazil, has been used for treating rheumatism, infection and abdominal pain. This research aims to investigate chemical ...constituents of essential oils from S. odoratissima A. St. Hil. leaves and flowers. Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and fully characterized by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results of the essential oil from S. odoratissima A. St. Hil. leaves showed that it has 28 volatile compounds which represent 93.8% of the oil. Its major compounds were b-caryophyllene (23.8%), bicyclogermacrene (10.8%), δ-cadinene (7.1%), germacrene D (5.9%), a-copaene (5.5%) and b-elemene (5.3%). Results of the essential oil from S. odoratissima A. St. Hil. flowers showed that it has 29 volatile compounds which represent 94.4% of the oil. Its main constituents were b-caryophyllene (14.1%), spathulenol (8.1%), g-cadinene (7.2%), α-cadinol (6.6%), a-copaene (6.4%), τ-muurolol (6.3%), δ-cadinene (5.8%), b-elemene (5.4%) and alloaromadendrene (5.2%). In this research, chemical constituents of the essential oil from S. odoratissima A. St. Hil. flowers were investigated for the first time.
If a forest fragment maintains original heterogeneous habitat conditions after deforestation and fragmentation of the landscape, is it possible that distinct communities can still remain within the ...forest remnant as they once occurred in the continuous forest landscape? In the present study, we assessed whether a single forest fragment could harbour different bird communities and the potential factors driving this distinction. Bird abundance and composition were compared between two distinct regions within a single large forest fragment, which differ in topography and vegetation physiognomy. The forest fragment was located in southern Brazil and consisted of pristine semi-deciduous forest. Our analysis indicates the occurrence of two different bird communities within the interior area of a single forest fragment. Variation partitioning also indicated that environmental features, particularly bamboo cover and humidity, were the main factors explaining bird species occurrence. We suggest that habitat heterogeneity is important for the maintenance of these bird communities and it leads to: (1) high levels of bird species diversity, and (2) maintenance of important ecological mechanisms (e.g. species sorting) within the forest fragment. Understanding the ecological processes involved in habitat distribution inside single forest fragments is important, yet usually not properly evaluated in forest fragmentation studies. Our results suggest that considering forest fragments as single ecological units can be misleading. We highlight the need to critically evaluate individual features of forest fragments, beside other landscape metrics, in order to identify important forest fragments for biodiversity conservation.
The theory behind metacommunity was recently reframed to incorporate the concepts of community ecology. Here we investigate how slight topographic variations might locally create habitat ...heterogeneity and a system of interchanging bird species (i.e., a metacommunity) in a continuous tropical forest. We studied the distribution of birds in a large and protected Neotropical Forest in southwestern Brazil to understand the influence of valley bottom sites on the taxonomic and functional diversity of the bird communities. As previous studies have shown that specialist species have spatially regular distribution when compared to generalists, in the present study we investigate if topography could influence those local patterns of distribution. We expected (1) to find higher taxonomic and functional diversity in communities of valley bottom areas and (2) lower beta taxonomic and functional diversity of the generalists at the valley bottom, but not of specialists, that should exhibit a somewhat consistent distribution. We gathered information on the composition of local bird communities by deploying eight automatic recording units, four in the valley bottoms and four in the uplands, along 4.3 km trail in the forest interior. Our data showed that bird diversity at the valley bottoms tended to be higher than that at the uplands. Specialist passerine assemblages presented high spatial stability and were regularly distributed throughout the forest. In contrast, generalist passerines have limited trait distribution due to valley bottoms. Because bird communities were distinct from each other, deforestation should have stronger impact in the system if only upland areas are left in the landscape. In this case, species dispersal and coexistence as well as complementary traits have predicted implications for the remaining forest fragments, and management actions should prioritize the conservation of forest fragments that include both bottom valleys and uplands areas.
•We investigate how topographic might create habitat heterogeneity in forests.•Topography variations of Atlantic Forest drive bird metacommunity.•Bird diversity at the valley bottoms tended to be higher than that at the uplands.•Differences between valley bottoms and uplands are due to generalist birds.•Deforestation should have stronger impact if only upland areas are left.
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