Chemical composition and cytotoxic activity of Lepechinia speciosa (St. Hill) Epling

The cell viability of Lepechinia speciosa (St. Hill) Epling fractions was measured by cell membrane integrity (lactate dehydrogenase assay) on rat basophilic leukemia cells (RBL-2H3). All fractions and extract tested (100 μg/ml) increased the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), being the ethyl acetate and dichloromethane fractions with LDH release of 94.5% and 91.2%, respectively. As these fractions showed decrease of cell viability, the antiproliferative activity on human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF-7) through sulphorhodamine B (SRB) assay was performed with them. The dichloromethane fraction (50 μg/ml) displayed the maximum activity (95% of inhibition) (IC50 = 1.99 ± 0.06 μg/ml). From this fraction was obtained a mixture containing two triterpenes (ursolic and oleanolic acids) and one fatty acid (palmitic acid), which were identified by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and had their structures confirmed by 13C NMR. Rosmarinic acid and verbascoside were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction and had their structures confirmed by 1H NMR.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Evaluation of the antioxidant and phototoxic potentials of Bauhinia microstachya var. massambabensis Vaz leaf extracts

Four different leaf extracts of B. microstachya var. massambabensis were studied to evaluate their antioxidant capacity by using three in vitro methods, with Ginkgo biloba and Trolox® as the standards. With the DPPH and ABTS·+ methods, the antioxidant activity of the extracts was in the following order, from maximum to minimum: AcEt > WAc > raw EtOH > EtOH CA > EGb, while with the ORAC method, it was as follows: EtOH CA > raw EtOH > AcEt > WAc > EGb. Phototoxic analysis was performed in yeast cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. From the ethyl acetate extract, 2 flavonoids kaempferol-3-O-rhamnoside and astragalin-2”,6”-O-digallate were isolated and identified by HPLC and 1H- and 13C-NMR; to our knowledge, this is the first report of the occurrence of astragalin-2”,6”-O-digallate in the Bauhinia genus.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

In vitro activity of the essential oil from Hesperozygis myrtoides on Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and Haemonchus contortus

ABSTRACT Commercial antiparasitics have been the main tool to control parasites, but due to the resistance development, plant extracts have been widely investigated to find new molecules. The present study aimed to investigate the in vitro acaricide and anthelmintic activities of the essential oil from the aerial parts of Hesperozygis myrtoides (A.St.-Hil. ex Benth.) Epling, Lamiaceae. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Four tests were conducted in vitro to screen the antiparasitic action of the essential oil. The evaluation on Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus was performed with the adult immersion test at concentrations ranging from 0.391 to 25 mg/ml and the larval packet test from 3.125 to 100 mg/ml. For Haemonchus contortus the egg hatch test was performed from 0.012 to 25 mg/ml and the larval development test from 0.003 to 0.4 mg/ml. The LC50 and LC90 values were calculated by Probit. The main components identified in the essential oil were isomenthone (47.7%), pulegone (21.4%), limonene (7.7%), isomenthyl acetate (6.8%) and neoisomenthol (3.9%). In the larval packet test the LC50 and LC90 were 13.5 and 21.8 mg/ml, respectively. In egg hatch test, the LC50 and LC90 were 0.249 and 0.797 mg/ml, respectively, while in the larval development test were 0.072 and 0.167 mg/ml, respectively. This is the first report of the H. myrtoides evaluation against those parasites. The anthelmintic results proved its efficacy on H. contortus encouraging new research with a focus on their main bioactives

Diagnosis of Human Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection by Amplification of Viral DNA from Dried Blood Spots on Perinatal Cards

Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection affects 1% of children and is the most common infectious cause of sensorineural hearing loss. Due to the difficulty of diagnosing deafness and other neurological disorders in infants, affected individuals may not be recognized until much later when active infection has resolved and culture is no longer informative. To overcome this problem, congenital HCMV infection was diagnosed retrospectively by testing residual blood samples collected from newborns and dried on perinatal cards as part of the North Carolina Newborn Screening Program. We modified the Qiagen method for purifying DNA from dried blood spots to increase the sample size and recovery of the lysate. A multiplex, real-time TaqMan polymerase chain reaction assay on an ABI 7900 instrument measured a highly conserved segment of the HCMV polymerase gene and the APOB human control gene. HCMV DNA was detected in blood dried on perinatal cards from all seven infants with culture-proven congenital infection, and all 24 negative control cases lacked detectable HCMV DNA. Our findings suggest that it is possible to diagnose congenital HCMV infection using dried blood collected up to 20 months earlier. Further studies are warranted on patients with hearing loss or other neurological deficits to determine the percentage that is attributable to congenital HCMV infection