Avaliação da capacidade antioxidante in vitro e in vivo contra radicais peroxila e hidroxila em amostras de plantas medicinais

Abstract

The present work reports the development of new methodologies to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant capacity against peroxyl and hydroxyl radicals in five medicinal plant samples (Matricaria chamomilla L., Psidium guajava, Achyrocline satureoides, Baccharis genistelloides and Cymbopogon citratus) and seven phenolic compounds (rutin, quercetin, resveratrol, gallic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid and rosmarinic acid). The antioxidant capacity of the samples was analyzed by two independent methods. In the first one, a new approach was used to detect hydroxyl radicals indirectly using an electrochemical procedure, in which the radicals destroy a thiol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on a gold electrode. This monolayer can block the electrochemical signal of a dissolved redox probe. When such an electrode with a SAM is exposed to free radicals, these radicals destroy the SAM and the electrochemical signal of a redox probe recovers to a degree proportional to the extent of dissolution of the SAM. In the second method, the evaluation of antioxidant capacity against peroxyl and hydroxyl radicals is based on the indirect detection of these reactive oxygen species (ROS) by fluorimetry (ex/em: 485/520 nm) employing 2 -7 -dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) as a fluorescent probe. After the deacetilation reaction of DCFH-DA, it can be oxidized by ROS to the fluorescent compound DCF. The peroxyl radicals were produced at 37ºC by thermal decomposition of 2,2 -azobis (2 methylpropianamidine) dihydrochloride (ABAP), while hydroxyl radicals were generated by the Fenton reaction. In vivo assays were evaluated using zebrafish (Danio rerio) hepatocytes exposed to P. guajava and C. citratus extracts (better and worst in vitro results, respectively). The results obtained by the electrochemical and fluorimetric methods show that it is difficult to classify the tested plants according to their antioxidant capacity, since the results depended strongly on the extract concentration and composition as well as on the principle of the analytical method. However, there was a good correlation between the in vitro and in vivo assays for P. guajava and C. citratus extracts, since these results showed a reduction in the intracellular ROS concentration in the hepatocytes exposed to P. guajava extract. Furthermore, no antioxidant effect was observed in the assay with C. citrates extract, what is in agreement with the in vitro assays for this plant species. At last, the thesis intended to proof and to highlight the discrepant results obtained by independent methods for the same antioxidant species. Additionally, it aimed to compare the different methods according to the differences among the experimental procedures by using different ROS. Furthermore, the stability, reactivity and the half-life time of the free radicals are discussed.