Essential Oils of Aromatic Plant Species from the Atlantic Rainforest Exhibit Extensive Chemical Diversity and Antimicrobial Activity.

Microbial resistance, caused by the overuse or inadequate application of antibiotics, is a worldwide crisis, increasing the risk of treatment failure and healthcare costs. Plant essential oils (EOs) consist of hydrophobic metabolites with antimicrobial activity. The antimicrobial potential of the chemical diversity of plants from the Atlantic Rainforest remains scarcely characterized.

A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area.

Background: Brazilian protected areas are essential for plant conservation in the Atlantic Forest domain, one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. A major challenge for improving conservation actions is to know the plant richness, protected by these areas. Online databases offer an accessible way to build plant species lists and to provide relevant information about biodiversity.

Using online databases to produce comprehensive accounts of the vascular plants from the Brazilian protected areas: The Parque Nacional do Itatiaia as a case study.

Background: Brazil is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, with about 37,000 species of land plants. Part of this biodiversity is within protected areas. The development of online databases in the last years greatly improved the available biodiversity data.

Larvicidal activity of essential oil of Peumus boldus Molina and its ascaridole-enriched fraction against Culex quinquefasciatus.

Culex quinquefasciatus (Say, 1823), known as the domestic mosquito, is a common and abundant species throughout the world, and a cosmopolitan species. The adults of this mosquito are important in terms of public and animal health since they display adaptability to different hosts. In humans, they are responsible for the transmission of various diseases.

Screening of Brazilian medicinal plants for antiviral activity against rotavirus.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Brazilian medicinal plants traditionally used for the treatment of diarrhoea were investigated for their in vitro antiviral activity against the simian rotavirus SA11.

Materials And Methods: The ethanolic crude extracts of plants collected in the cerrado of Minas Gerais, Brazil were submitted to phytochemical screening. The cytotoxicity of the extracts was inferred by cellular morphologic alterations.

Leishmanicidal, trypanocidal, and cytotoxic activities of endophytic fungi associated with bioactive plants in Brazil.

One hundred and twenty-one isolates of endophytic fungi were recovered from leaves of the bioactive Brazilian plant species Ageratum myriadenia , Palicourea tetraphylla , Piptadenia adiantoides, and Trixis vauthieri. All fungal isolates were cultivated in liquid media and crude extracts were obtained with ethyl acetate. The crude extracts were tested in bioassay panels using Leishmania amazonensis , Trypanosoma cruzi, the enzyme trypanothione reductase (TryR) from Trypanosoma cruzi, and three human cancer cell lines.

Differential acetyl cholinesterase inhibition by volatile oils from two specimens of Marlierea racemosa (Myrtaceae) collected from different areas of the Atlantic Rain Forest.

The volatile oil composition and anti-acetyl cholinesterase activity were analyzed in two specimens of Marlierea racemosa growing in different areas of the Atlantic Rain Forest (Cananéia and Caraguatatuba, SP, Brazil). Component identifications were performed by GC/MS and their acetyl cholinesterase inhibitory activity was measured through colorimetric analysis. The major constituent in both specimens was spathulenol (25.