Avaliação das atividades antibiótica e antiproliferativa tumoral das frações purificas da urtiga Cnidoscolus urens.

Abstract

The species Cnidoscolus urens (L). Arthur., Popularly known as "white nettle," is widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of various diseases. This work aims to evaluate the antibiotic and antiproliferative activity in vitro of the fractionated compounds of the nettle Cnidoscolus urens. The extract was obtained from a process of extraction by organic solvents. The purification process was performed by Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC-FR), and fractions were classified as Fraction 1, Fraction 2 and Fraction 3, selected for the tests. The study of antibacterial activity was performed against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) strains, with the antibiotic Amoxicillin being the positive control. Tumor antiproliferative activity in vitro was evaluated against the LNcaP cell line of prostate cancer from the cytotoxicity assay by the MTS method. The chromatogram obtained from the purification process revealed approximately sixteen peaks, i.e. the presence of about 16 different compounds, which may be responsible for the observed antibacterial and cytotoxic activities. Fractions 1, 2 and 3 demonstrated antibacterial potential, with formation inhibition halos of respectively 12, 3 and 10mm against E. coli and inhibition halos respectively 13.33, 6.67 and 8.33mm against S. aureus. Fraction 1 showed a high in vitro cytotoxic effect against the LNCaP line at concentrations of 855.9, 427.9 and 213.9 mg/mL, causing cancer cells to die of 100%, 91.9% and 76.5%, respectively. Fraction 3 showed effective cytotoxic effect against the LNCaP line at concentrations of 808.3 and 404.1 mg/mL used in the assay, causing the death of prostate cancer cells 86.5% and 48.0%, respectively. However, Fraction 2 did not show significant cytotoxicity on LNCaP cells.