"Bioprospeção do óleo essencial das folhas de Lippia origanoides Kunth (syn Lippia sidoides) quanto ao potencial antioxidante e a capacidade de inibir a acetilcolinesterase in vitro e in vivo no modelo biotecnológico Caenorhabditis elegans"

Abstract

Since the beginning of humanity, medicinal plants have been used in traditional medicine to treat a wide variety of diseases and this knowledge has been accumulated to this day. Brazil is considered the country with the greatest biodiversity on the planet, whose species are used as foods, fibers, wood, condiments, aromas, active ingredients and medicines, with their extracts being a source of raw material for the development of drugs based on their secondary metabolites. Among the plants that occur in the Northern Amazon region, Lippia origanoides Kunth (OELO) stands out, popularly known as rosemary-pepper, strepa-cavalo and, in Roraima, as field sage, being easily found in savannah regions. and plowed. The pharmacological potential of its essential oil (EO) is known in the treatment of various pathologies related to the respiratory system, but the bactericidal, antifungal, antiparasitic, larvicidal, antioxidant and inhibitory activities of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme in Aedes aegypti, in vitro and in vivo, are also known. are described. Each EO is formed by a complex mixture of natural phytoconstituents in very different concentrations, which can be associated with chemotypes of the same species, mainly extracted from aromatic plants. Typically, it is these major compounds that determine the chemotype and its pharmacological properties. Therefore, the objective of this work was to carry out a study of the chemical composition, and evaluate whether the EO extracted from the fresh leaves of the species Lippia origanoides Kunth (EOLO) presents antioxidant activity and the ability to inhibit Acetylcholinesterase in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. To this end, the compounds were identified and quantified in OELO, using Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and High Resolution Gas Chromatography (GC-FID). The results showed that the majority constituents in EOLO are carvacrol-22.64%, thymol-16.77%, p-cymene-14.85%, (E)-caryophyllene-9.86% and Linalool-3.41%. The chemical antioxidant activity and toxicity of the sample was evaluated in 3T3 fibroblasts, using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction assay. The toxicity of EOLO, the effect on oxidative stress and paralysis was not evaluated, in vivo, using the C. elegans animal model. OELO showed no toxicity and presented antioxidant and anti-aging activities in C. elegans. Furthermore, EOLO showed a protective effect against abnormal protein aggregation. According to the results presented, we can suggest that EOLO can become a potent pharmacological agent against dementia, promoting antioxidant action and, consequently, improving the life and health of C. elegans.