Verbenaceae da Serra do Cipó: aspectos biossistemáticos, químicos e farmacológico

Abstract

The Verbenaceae family is widely found in practically every terrestrial ecosystem. It is one of the five most important families among the Eudicotyledonous of Campus Rupestres. This family includes 2600 species and 100 genera with a pantropical distribution with few species found in the temperate areas. At Serra do Cipó, several genera of Verbenaceae were reported, such as Aegiphila, Aloysia, Bouchea, Lippia, Lantana, Stachytarpheta, Verbena and Vitex. In spite of the study of some genera, little is known about the Brazilian species. The objective of the present study was to investigate, using a biosystematic approach, Aeghipila lhotzkiana, Aeghipila sellowiana, Aloysia virgata, Bouchea fluminensis, Lantana aff. fucata, Lantana fucata, Lippia aristata, Lippia aff. microphylla, Lippia martiana, Lippia salviifolia, Stachytarpheta gesnerioides, Stachytarpheta glabra, Stachytarpheta mexiae, Stachytarpheta procumbens, Stachytarpheta reticulata, Verbena litoralis and Vitex polygama collected at Serra do Cipó, by cytogenetic, palinologic and flow cytometry techniques (Chapter 1 ). Considering the medicinal potential attributed to several species of the genus, chemical analyses, as well as biological tests were performed in order to prospect for potential sources of natural antioxidants (Chapter 2). For fifteen of seventeen species studied, this is the first report in the literature about the chromosome characterization. The chromosome numbers ranged from 2n = 24 to 2n = 84. Additionally, this was the first report of the the nuclear DNA amount for all species studied, ranging from 1.14 pg to 10.35 pg. The pollen structure of fourteen species analyzed was also reported for the first time. The Verbenaceae family showed a wide variation of the exine structure and morphology of pollen grains. The sizes ranged from P=20.59 μm / E = 21.68 μm to P = 129.55 μm / E = 93.55 μm. This was the first study of the volatile components for nine of the studied species being an important source for subsequent researches, once many of the major components identified possess proven biological action. The differentiated study of Stachytarpheta glabra allowed the purification, isolation and identification of compounds ipolamiide, acteoside and fulvoipolamiide, described for the first time for the species. The antioxidant activity demonstrated by etanolic extracts of Lippia and Lantana was, probably due to the action of phenolic compounds, especially the flavonoids identified in the phytochemical screening.