Potencial biológico de três plantas ruderais de Alagoas

Abstract

Medicinal plants have great use in popular culture for primary health care, from indication for diseases caused by bacterial and fungal infections as well as for inflammation, burns and snakebites. In recent years, studies on the bioactivity of medicinal plants have grown a lot. The present work aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of aqueous extracts of Bidens pilosa, Indigofera campestris and Desmodium incantum against two strains of fungi, the yeasts Candica albicans and Cryptococos neoformans, microorganisms that cause pathologies with a high incidence of cases. Aerial parts and plant roots were collected in the gardens of the Institute of Biological and Health Sciences at the Federal University of Alagoas. For identification, exsiccates of the plants were produced and sent to the Herbarium Professor Honório Monteiro of the Museum of Natural History of Alagoas (MUFAL). The plants were dried and ground to prepare the aqueous extracts by infusion and decoction. The methodology applied was the Reference Method for Dilution Tests in Broth, where a 96-well plate was used to inoculate the extracts together with the yeasts for the evaluation of growth inhibition and subsequent fungicidal and fungistatic analysis for the tested strains according to the recommendation from NCCLS (2002). The results showed an action of B. pilosa tea against C. neoformans at a minimum concentration of 2mg/µL, presenting not only fungistatic but also fungicidal action. The other extracts of I. campestris and D. incatum showed no activity, possibly due to the filtration method that may have removed important active substances. With this it is concluded that in this research only the tea of B. pilosa showed a fungicidal effect against the fungus. It is suggested to repeat the tests with I campestris and D. incantum since in the literature there are therapeutic uses for other species of the same genus, such as Desmodium adscendens and Indigofera suffruticosa.