Propriedades farmacológicas, biológicas e quantificação de L-dopa do extrato de sementes de Mucuna pruriens

Abstract

Plants have been present in medicine for thousands of years, such as Mucuna used in Ayurveda (traditional in India) and indigenous medicine. Mucuna pruriens is known as a natural source of L-dopa, a direct precursor of the neurotransmitter dopamine, a substance found at low levels in diseases such as Parkinson's. Neurodegenerative diseases are associated with aging, which in turn is catalyzed by oxidative stress, causing different metabolic disorders in the body. One way to contain the action of these oxidative compounds is through the action of antioxidant compounds, which are highly found in plants. In addition to antioxidant compounds, plants have a series of secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids and others that have pharmacological action on human metabolism, so their recognition can be beneficial for different treatments. Therefore, the present study carried out a literature review on the subject, performed laboratory procedures to obtain the extract of M. pruriens seeds, quantified the presence of L-dopa by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), evaluated the antioxidant activity of the extract by chemical methods: DPPH, ABTS and FRAP, in addition to evaluating its activity in vivo using a unicellular eukaryotic system through the mutant strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae ΔGTT1 and subsequently the action against the strain S. cerevisiae PD1 that expresses the alpha-synuclein protein, responsible for the formation of protein aggregates that cause Parkinson's disease. Through the analysis carried out, it was verified that the extract of seeds of M. pruriens has a high antioxidant potential, which is verified by in vitro tests when compared to highly antioxidant substances used in industry, as well as in in vivo tests, where the significant increase, at 95% reliability, in the survival rate of the strain after the challenge with the stressor agent Menadione, revealing its antioxidant and repair capacity against the toxicity of the alpha-synuclein protein. In the phytochemical screening tests, the main properties are: antioxidant, antimicrobial, tissue repair, membrane interaction and complex formation. In the face of high performance liquid chromatography, it was found that the extract of M. pruriens seeds obtained has a high concentration of L-dopa in its composition, which was determined at 156.19 g.L-1 [g of L-dopa per liter of M. pruriens seed extract]. Thus, it is concluded that the extract of M. pruriens has a wide range of compounds that can be used for therapeutic purposes, as well as a potential supporting substance in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.