Planta Med 2014; 80 - P2B55
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1394932

Inorganic characterization of piquiá (Caryocar villosum)

CV Lamarão 2, K Yamaguchi 2, CC Silva 1, VFV Junior 2
  • 1Amazonas State University, Brazil
  • 2Amazonas Federal University, Brazil

Caryocar villosum (piquiá) is a native fruit from the Amazonian region, considered an interesting source of bioactive compounds. The oil products of C. villosum fruits are reported to possess antifungal properties against dermatophytosis, as well as in vivo topical anti-inflammatory activity [1]. As a continuous effort from our research group to explore byproducts from Brazilian agroindustry seeking for bioactivities on low cost and highly available raw materials, at the present study we analyzed shells, seeds (industrial wastes) and pulps from piquiá using WXRF to investigate the presence of elements with Z between 9 and 92 in the samples. The number of elements in a plant will depend principally upon the presence of these elements in the soil and the amount or proportion of the elements in a plant will depend upon many factors and some of these are: the species of plant, its age, the roots and the chemical nature of the soil. The elements Mg, Si, P, S, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zn, Rb and Mn were detected in all samples at concentrations ranging from 1 and 5% m/m. Sodium and aluminum were detected in higher amounts, Al in concentrations between 10 and 20% m/m. Sodium presented seed concentration of 29.41% m/m, almost the double amount observed in the shell and pulp. Pulp and seed samples showed 8% m/m of Ca and K. The presence of trace from Cu, Zn and Mn in the samples is an important result, because these micronutrients are considered antioxidant elements, and because of this property, in few researches presented important benefits for several studies of cardiovascular risk in patients with diabetes 2.

Keywords: Inorganic Chemistry, antioxidant

References:

[1] Xavier, W. K. S., Junior Medeiros, B., Lima, C. S., Favacho, H. A., Andrade, E. H. A., et al. (2011). Topical anti-inflammatory action of Caryocar villosum oil (Aubl) Pers. J. Appl. Pharm. Sci., 01, 62 – 67.

[2] Martini LA, Catania AS, Ferreira SR. Role of vitamins and minerals in prevention and management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nutr Rev. 2010; 68(6), 341 – 54.