Planta Med 2014; 80 - P2B37
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1394914

Therapeutic potential of pollen

D Amâcio 1, M Serrano 2, O Anjos 2, 3, MG Campos 1
  • 1Drug Discovery Group, Center for Pharmaceutical Studies, Faulty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Health Sciences Campus, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000 – 548 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 2Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Escola Superior Agrária, Apartado 119, 6001 – 909 Castelo Branco, Portugal
  • 3Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349 – 017 Lisboa, Portugal

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of phenolic compounds of Portuguese flora as a source of flavonoids for use in research of new active molecules using a previous screening by HPLC/DAD. Some of these compounds have bioactive properties as antioxidant and will study in order to determine its anti-inflammatory action. On the other hand, for example, flavones are possible research targets with benzodiazepine-like activity and isoflavones as estrogen-like. When these molecules appear much methylated or hydroxylated, anti-redox potential and antibacterial ability can be assessed. The samples were collected directly into stamens of plants and served as the basis for identification of pollen material collected by bees. The samples analyzed were: Carpobrotus edulis (L.) N.E.Br., Tilia spp., Viburnum tinus L. and Opuntia spp. Approximately 10 mg of pollen sample are dried and extracted with 50% ethanol (1:1, v/v), after was assisted by ultrasonication (30 min), centrifuged at 5000 rpm during 10 min and the supernatant used for HPLC/DAD according Campos and Markham [1]. The compounds structures were determined by UV absorption spectroscopy according Campos and Markham [1]. The more flavonoids common structure in the samples was of 3-O-glycosides of quercetin and kaempferol, and phenolic polymers acids. The less common structure is a derivative of kaempferol that have derivatization at the ring in C6 or C8 alkyl, which makes evident for further evaluation of their therapeutic activity, for the ability to GABAa binding receptors may be one of the possibilities. The studied species present a probability of being able to establish a relationship with greater therapeutic potential (Figure 1).

Fig. 1: Spectra for the less common structure identification.

Keywords: Pollen, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, HPLC/DAD

References:

[1] Campos MG, Markham KR. Structure information from HPLC and on-line measured absorption spectra – Flavone, Flavonols and Phenolic Acids. Ed. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra; 2007: 1 – 118.