Avaliação da atividade antioxidante dos extratos etanólicos dos frutos de Eugenia moraviana e Eugenia blastantha

Abstract

The Myrtaceae family is considered one of the most important families of the Brazilian flora due to the vast occurrence of edible species and / or used in traditional medicine. Among them Eugenia Moraviana and Eugenia Blastantha, known in Brazil as guamirim or black cherry and grumixama-mirim or purple cherry woodland, are of great interest, especially due to the growing search for antioxidant substances from natural sources. The ethanolic extracts of the fruits of these native species were evaluated in the present work on the antioxidant properties. The concentration in trolox equivalent per gram of the extracts of said species was determined using DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging capacity assays, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and ferric reduced antioxidant potency (FRAP) assays. The total phenolic content was also determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. Both species presented expressive antioxidant activity in all the tests carried out, what characterizes them as possible sources of antioxidants. The extract of the fruits of E. blastantha showed a higher content of phenolic compounds (213.28 ± 4.55), higher antioxidant activity in the DPPH (1789.82 ± 139.22) and FRAP (2023.46 ± 34.12), besides showing superior activity than other species of the same genus and commonly consumed species. Fruit extracts of E. moraviana showed higher antioxidant capacity only by ORAC (2120.05 ± 50.80) and ABTS (68.18 ± 2.68). The results suggest that the fruits of E. moraviana and E. blastantha are considered a source of bioactive metabolites, and may be suggested in therapies of diseases related to the presence of free radicals. This activity is being reported for the first time for both species. The results found stimulate further studies to identify bioactive compounds.