Fitoterapia
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Propolis, a natural product produced by the honeybee, has been used for thousands of years in folk medicine for several purposes. The extract contains amino acids, phenolic acids, phenolic acid esters, flavonoids, cinnamic acid, terpenes and caffeic acid. It possesses several biological activities such as antiinflammatory, immunostimulatory, antiviral and antibacterial. ⋯ Propolis extract with CAPE was more active than propolis extract without CAPE. CAPE, used alone, exhibited a strong antioxidant activity, higher than galangin. The experimental evidence, therefore, suggests that CAPE plays an important role in the antioxidant activity of propolis.
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The methanol extract of the leaves of Passiflora incarnata (100 and 200 mg/kg, p.o.) exhibited significant antitussive activity on sulfur dioxide-induced cough in mice, the cough inhibition (39.4 and 65.0%, respectively) being comparable to that of codeine phosphate (10 and 20 mg/kg, p.o., respectively).
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Ilex paraguariensis (common name: 'mate' or 'yerba mate') is used for the preparation of the most popular tea-like beverage of South America. Choleretic, hypocholesteremic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective and bitter taste properties of mate are attributed to the phenolic constituents of the leaves. ⋯ An HPLC method using UV with Photodiode Array Detector was developed for the identification and quantification of caffeoyl derivatives (caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid) and flavonoids (quercetin, rutin and kaempferol) in these species. I. paraguariensis showed a higher content of flavonoids and caffeoyl derivatives than the other assayed species.
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The methanol extract of Asparagus racemosus root (200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o.) showed significant antitussive activity on sulfur dioxide-induced cough in mice, the cough inhibition (40.0 and 58.5%, respectively) being comparable to that of 10-20 mg/kg of codeine phosphate (36.0 and 55.4%, respectively).