Vismia cauliflora extracts: bioactive compounds and the in vitro scavenging capacity against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.

Vismia cauliflora, a scientific unexploited plant from Amazonian forest, used by Amerindians to treat dermatosis and inflammatory processes in the skin may be considered an interesting source of bioactive compounds. Thus, we evaluated for the first time in literature, the scavenging capacity of five extracts of V. cauliflora (leaf, branch, stem bark, flower and whole fruit) against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. In addition, the phenolic compounds and carotenoids were also identified and quantified (dry basis). In general, (-)-epicatechin and proanthocyanidin dimers and trimer were the major phenolic compounds identified in leaf, branch, stem bark and flower extracts, while dihydroxybenzoic in whole fruit extracts. The highest phenolic contents were found in stem bark extract (106mg/g extract), followed by leaf (103mg/g) and flower (85mg/g). Regarding carotenoids composition, leaf extract presented the highest contents (0.6mg/g extract) and the major compound tentatively identified was all-trans-zeinoxanthin, followed by all-trans--carotene. All V. cauliflora extracts showed high efficiency against superoxide anion radical, hypochlorous acid, singlet oxygen, nitric oxide and peroxynitrite; however, flower and stem bark exhibited the most remarkable scavenging capacity (IC50 from 0.9 to 11.5g/mL). Therefore, V. cauliflora has a great potential to be used in the development of phytopharmaceutical products due to its characteristic to be a promising source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties.