Avaliação da atividade antioxidante de espécies vegetais nativas da região Nordeste uma revisão

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compile and analyze publications from 2017 to 2022 that investigated the antioxidant activity of six plant species from the Northeast and the Brazilian semi-arid region of current or potential economic value considering their different parts, namely: Eugenia uniflora L. (pitanga) , Genipa americana L. (jenipapo), Hancornia speciosa Gomes. (mangaba), Passiflora cincinnata Mast. (wild passion fruit), Spondias mombin L. (cajá) and Spondias tuberosa Arruda. (umbu). This is a literature review that used the descriptors: “antioxidant activity” followed by the scientific names of the species in the databases: Google Scholar, Periodicals CAPES and PubMed, indexed in isolation and associated with the Boolean operator “AND”, in the English language. The search identified 75 articles, analyzed following the exclusion criteria it considered, review articles, whether narrative or systematic, observational articles, titles and abstracts that do not mention any antioxidant method and that do not mention the species sought, methodologies that do not mention any method antioxidant. The results indicated that the different parts including residues such as bark and seeds showed antioxidant activity, with the pitanga leaf being the most analyzed part within all parts and species, but the comparison was compromised, since there is a lack of standardization between methodologies and specification and/or non-use of positive control. Ethanol was the most used solvent for extraction purposes, the main methods to measure the antioxidant activity were DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, ORAC and β-carotene/linoleic acid system, with DPPH being the protagonist, while the main extraction methods were ultrasonic bath, shaker, Soxhlet, extraction with supercritical fluid (CO2), hydrodistillation and maceration. Regarding the positive control or “standard” observed, ascorbic acid, gallic acid, Trolox and BHT stand out. Thus, the investigation of the antioxidant activity of these species from the Brazilian semi-arid region is recent and progressive, the number of studies shows that there is a need to better explore the biotechnological potential for better use and that, therefore, they should be the target of new tests with methodologies standardized, positive control specification, more ¬in vivo assays, since this category presented only x articles, and that make use of biologically relevant radicals for a better understanding and effectiveness of antioxidants and appreciation of the Brazilian semi-arid region.