IN VITRO ANTI-CANDIDA ACTIVITY OF MYRICETIN ISOLATED FROM PLINIA CAULIFLORA (MART.) KAUSEL

Tatiana Maria Souza-moreira (FCF/UNESP); Juliana A. Severi (FCF/UNESP); Wagner Vilegas (IQ/UNESP); Rosemeire C. L. R. Pietro (FCF/UNESP)

<i>Plinia cauliflora</i> is a plant belonging to Myrtaceae family that occurs in Brazil, Argentine and Paraguay. Morphologically it is a tree about 10-15 meters of height, which bark scales every year, that has simple leaves, with flowers ad fruits together the stem, feature by what this plant has been named. The bark of <i>P. cauliflora</i> is astringent and used by Brazilian people to treat diarrhea and skin irratations. <i>P. cauliflora</i> has comestible fruits already studied. However, their leaves are still without chemical and biological evaluation.The aim of this work was to evaluate the anti-<iCandida</i> activity of <i>P. cauliflora</i> leaves extract and a flavonoid as pure compound. The leaves were collected at São Carlos, São Paulo state, the extract was obtained with 70% ethanol by percolation. After partition with ethyl acetate and water, the ethyl acetate fraction (2.5 g) was chromatographed through a Sephadex LH-20 gel column eluted with methanol. Fractions (8mL) collected and analyzed by TLC, were eluted with choroform:methanol:<i>n</i>-propanol:water (5:6:1:4; v/v) and sprayed with sulphuric anisaldehyde. The isolated compound was identified by its spectral data identified as the flavonoiod myricetin-3-O-&beta;-allopyranoside. Determinationof Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) was performed according CLSI, NCCLS guideline M27-A2. The identified fraction sample was diluted 500 &mu;g/mL and the <i>Candida albicans</i> (ATCC 65548), <i>Candida krusei</i> (ATCC 6258), <i>Candida parapsilosis</i> (ATCC 22019) final inoculum was 2.5-5.0x10³ cells/mL. The compound showed MIC and MFC ranging from 125 &mu;g/mL to 500 &mu;g/mL to the microorganisms. The MIC and MFC for ethanolic extract were in the same level except to the <i>C. krusei</i> where the values were lower.This was the first flavonol isolated from the leaves of <i>P. caulflora</i> and it was possible to determine for the first time its good activity against the pathogen <i>Candida</i> sp.