Publications by authors named "Alberto Jose Cavalheiro"

Extracts of species have been shown to reduce biofilms, demonstrating their antimicrobial effects. The extracts can be fractionated to optimize their potential. In this study, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of fractions against planktonic cells and biofilms of and .

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The effects of extracts, fractions, and molecules of to control the cariogenic biofilm of were evaluated. First, the antimicrobial and antibiofilm (initial and pre-formed biofilms) in prolonged exposure (24 h) models were investigated. Second, formulations (with and without fluoride) were assessed for topical effects (brief exposure) on biofilms.

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Background: Bacterial resistance requires new treatments for infections. In this context, antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is an effective and promising option. Objectives: Three plant extracts (Senna splendida, Senna alata, and Senna macranthera) were evaluated as photosensitizers for aPDT.

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Introduction: Selaginellins are specialized metabolites and chemotaxonomic markers for Selaginella species. Despite the growing interest in these compounds as a result of their bioactivities, they are accumulated at low levels in the plant. Hence, their isolation and chemical characterization are often difficult, time consuming, and limiting for biological tests.

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is a Brazilian native tree of the Caatinga (a unique semiarid biome). It is widely used in traditional medicine showing anti-inflammatory and central nervous system modulating activities. The species is a rich source of specialized metabolites, mostly alkaloids and flavonoids.

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The objective of this study was evaluate, in vivo model, the antifungal activity of Cryptocarya moschata extract against Candida albicans and its biocompatibility. The animals (N = 50) were divided into groups (n = 5): CI/CG: candidiasis was induced and treated with C. moschata extract (0.

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Introduction: Natural products of pharmaceutical interest often do not reach the drug market due to the associated low yields and difficult extraction. Knowledge of biosynthetic pathways is a key element in the development of biotechnological strategies for plant specialized metabolite production. species are mainly used as central nervous system depressants in folk medicine and are important sources of bioactive tetracyclic benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs), which can act on several pathology-related biological targets.

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This study evaluated the efficacy of Cryptocarya spp extracts on biofilm of Candida albicans and its biocompatibility. Mature biofilm of C. albicans was formed on denture base acrylic resin samples and the fungicidal effect of the extracts was evaluated by Alamar Blue® assay, counting colony-forming units (CFU/mL) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).

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Article Synopsis
  • * A stepwise approach for screening natural compounds is proposed, involving plant collection, extraction, chromatography, and bioassays to identify potentially active molecules.
  • * This method allows for high-throughput screening and sets the stage for future research on effective formulations and targeting microbes, like inhibiting enzymes related to cariogenic biofilm formation.
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is an outstanding representative of the genus. This representability comes from its distinctive chemical profile and pharmacological properties. This species is widespread from North to South America, occurring in all Brazilian biomes.

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is a desiccation tolerant plant native to the Brazilian semiarid region (Caatinga), endowed with an effective drought resistance mechanism. As part of our research efforts to understand the chemical diversity of dehydrated (harvested in their natural habitat in the dry season) and hydrated (plant acclimated in a laboratory after rehydration) specimens were analyzed by HR-LC-ESI-MS/MS followed by a structural annotation on the Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking Web platform. The molecular networking approach allowed for putative annotation of 39 metabolites, mainly selaginellins and flavonoids.

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Proper chromatographic methods may reduce the challenges inherent in analyzing natural product extracts, especially when utilizing hyphenated detection techniques involving mass spectrometry. As there are many variations one can introduce during chromatographic method development, this can become a daunting and time-consuming task. To reduce the number of runs and time needed, the use of instrumental automatization and commercial software to apply Quality by Design and statistical analysis automatically can be a valuable approach to investigate complex matrices.

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Tropane alkaloids are specialized plant metabolites mostly found in the Erythroxylaceae and Solanaceae families. Although tropane alkaloids have a high degree of structural similarity because of the tropane ring, their pharmacological actions are quite distinct. Brazil is one of the main hotspots of spp.

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Rationale: Clerodane-type diterpenes from Casearia species show important pharmacological activites such as antitumor, antimicrobial and anti-inflamatory. There are several mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods for identification of diterpenes; however, there is still a lack of MS procedures capable of providing characteristic fragmentation pathways for a rapid and unambiguous elucidation of casearin-like compounds.

Methods: Casearin-like compounds were investigated by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS).

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Background: Dental caries is a biofilm-diet-dependent worldwide public health problem, and approaches against microorganisms in cariogenic biofilms are necessary.

Methods: The antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of 12 Casearia sylvestris extracts (0.50 mg/mL) from different Brazilian biomes (Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Caatinga, Pampa, and Pantanal) and varieties (sylvestris, lingua, and intermediate) were tested against two species found in cariogenic biofilms (Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans).

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Ethanolic extracts of propolis are consumed for their health benefits even though direct consumption of alcoholic extracts is not always ideal. Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) can potentially extract similar compounds as alcoholic extracts while being better for direct consumption. Therefore, in this work alternative solvents for the extraction of green propolis including its biomarker artepillin C were examined.

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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Extracts, essential oils and molecules from Casearia sylvestris have popularly shown pharmacological actions against chronic diseases, as anxiety, inflammation, cancer and dyslipidemia. In the context of antitumoral therapy, we investigated in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo toxicological changes induced by a Fraction with Casearins (FC) and its component Casearin X isolated from C. sylvestris on animal and vegetal cells, and upon invertebrates and mammals.

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Natural deep eutectic solvents have been used as an alternative to organic solvents for the extraction of plants metabolites, allowing for the extraction of compounds of different polarities, while being inexpensive, non-toxic, and easy to prepare. This work presents the comparison of the chromatographic profiles by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection obtained from Byrsonima intermedia (Malpighiaceae) using five choline chloride-based natural deep eutectic solvents, in addition to the most used traditional extraction solvents, methanol/water 7:3 and ethanol/water 7:3 v/v. A reference extract was used to tentatively identify compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

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Casearin X (CAS X) is the major clerodane diterpene isolated from the leaves of and has been extensively studied due to its powerful cytotoxic activity at low concentrations. Promising results for antitumor action have also been described when CAS X was administered intraperitoneally in mice. Conversely, loss of activity was observed when orally administered.

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Increasing evidence suggests that flavones can modulate memory and anxiety-like behaviour. However, these therapeutic effects are inconsistent and induce of adverse effects, which have been associated with interactions at the Benzodiazepine (BZ)-binding site. To improve our understanding of flavone effects on memory and anxiety, we employed a plus-maze discriminative avoidance task.

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Introduction: Byrsonima species have been used in the treatment of gastrointestinal and gynecological inflammations, skin infections and snakebites. Based on their biological activities, it is important to study other organisms from this genus and to identify their metabolites.

Objectives: To determine the metabolic fingerprinting of methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of four Byrsonima species (B.

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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Casearia sylvestris is a medicinal plant traditionally used to treat snakebites, wounds, inflammation and gastric ulcers and scientific supports for have demonstrated its antitumor, antihyperlipidemic and antiparasitic properties.

Aim Of The Study: To assess the effects of a fraction with casearins (FC) on adult mice using classical experimental models of animal behavior and theoretical calculations to verify the interaction of Casearin X (Cas X) with neuron receptors.

Materials And Methods: Animals divided in 6 groups (n=9/group) were intraperitoneally treated with vehicle (DMSO 4%), FC (2.

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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Casearia sylvestris (Salicaceae) is found in South America and presents antiulcerogenic, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antihypertensive activities.

Aim Of The Study: To assess the in vivo and ex vivo antitumor action of a fraction with casearins (FC) and its main component - Casearin X-isolated from C. sylvestris leaves.

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The clerodane diterpene casearin X (1), isolated from the leaves of Casearia sylvestris, is a potential new drug candidate due to its potent in vitro cytotoxic activity. In this work, the intestinal absorption mechanism of 1 was evaluated using Caco-2 cells with and without active carboxylesterases (CES). An LC-MS method was developed and validated for the quantification of 1.

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Casearia sylvestris Swartz is a medicinal plant widely distributed in Brazil. It has anti-inflammatory, antiulcer and antitumor activities and is popularly used to treat snakebites, wounds, diarrhea, flu and chest colds. Its leaves are rich in oxygenated tricyclic cis-clerodane diterpenes, particulary casearins.

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