Planta Med 2009; 75 - PH21
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1234738

Chemical composition and antimicrobial properties of Piper ovatum Vahl.

D Rodrigues Silva 1, E Harue Endo 1, B Prado Dias Filho 1, 2, C Vataru Nakamura 1, 2, T Inez Estivaleti Svidzinski 2, A de Souza 3, MCM Young 3, T Ueda-Nakamura 1, 2, LE Ranieri Cortez 5, D Aparício Garcia Cortez 1, 4
  • 1Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
  • 2Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
  • 3Instituto de Botânica de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
  • 4Departamento de Farmácia e Farmacologia, Universidade Estadual de Maringá
  • 5ESUMAR, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

Piper ovatum Vahl (Piperaceae), an herbaceous plant occurring throughout Brazil, is popularly known as „joão burandi“ or „anesthetic.“ It is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammations [1] and as an analgesic [2]. The chemical composition of essential oil obtained from the leaves of Piper ovatum by hydrodistillation was analyzed by GC-MS. The main constituents were δ-Amorphene (16.5%), cis-Muurola-4(14),5-diene (14.29%) and γ- Muurolene (13.26%). The hydroalcoholic extract of Piper ovatum leaves and isolated compounds piperovatine, piperlonguminine and essential oil were screened for their antimicrobial activity by microdilution MIC and disc diffusion method respectively. The amides were made determination adherence inhibition assay and cytotoxicity assay. Hydroalcoholic extracts of different parts of Piper ovatum Vahl, essential oil, and amides isolated from leaves were tested against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and Candida species. All extracts and amides were active against Bacillus subtilis and Candida tropicalis, including clinical strains. Essential oil was active against C. tropicalis. These amides showed an inhibitory effect on the adherence of C. tropicalis ATCC 28707 on cover glasses at 10µg/ml, but did not show morphological alterations at the tested concentrations. Amides were identified as piperovatine and piperlonguminine, and showed MIC values of 15.6 and 31.2µg/ml to B. subtilis and 3.9µg/ml to C. tropicalis, and low toxic effects to confluent Vero cells monolayers and adherent J774G8 macrophages cells.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to CNPq for providing a research grant and fellowships

References: [1] Rodrigues-Silva, D. et al. (2008)J. Ethnopharmacol. 116:569–573.

[2] Correa, M.P. (1984) Dicionario das Plantas Uteis do Brasil e das Exoticas Cultivadas, vol. 1. Instituto. Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Florestal, Rio de Janeiro.