RESUMO
Acredita-se que alguns vegetais, entre eles a semente de abóbora tenham efeito anti-helmíntico, mas säo raras as indicaçöes dos vermes sensíveis. O objetivo foi verificar os efeitos da semente de abóbora sobre a verminose, em crianças previamente identificadas como portadores de algum tipo de parasito (14 constituíram as unidades de observaçäo). A semente de abóbora foi oferecida sob a forma de farinha (5g) para as crianças de 2 a 3 anos; de biscoito (85g) para as de 4 anos e de paçoca (70g) para as de 5 anos. O produto teve efeito exclusivamente vermífugo em 14,29 por cento do grupo em foco, èxclusivamente estimulante em 35,71 por cento, ambos os efeitos em 21,43 por cento e nenhum efeito em 28,57 por cento. ANOVA para um fator discriminante aferiu se existia diferença significativa entre as médias das doses consecutivas e intermitente atuando como "vermífugo: ou "estimulante do aparecimento de parasitos no exame coprológico". A estatística F de Snedecor permitiu inferir que as médias näo diferem significativamente para um p-level de 0,89 e 0,83 para o efeito vermífugo e estimulante, respectivamente. O mesmo ocorreu para as doses intermitentes, com p-level de 0,88 e 0,76. Estes níveis de significância levam a concluir que a semente de abóbora apresentou discreto efeito como vermífugo e estimulante, em dosagem consecutiva e intermitente respectivamente.
Assuntos
Anti-Helmínticos , Cucurbitaceae/uso terapêutico , Sementes/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
Ten Type 2 diabetic patients with moderately hyperglycemia, received a raw extract of Cucurbita ficifolia or potable water in a single dose of 4 ml/Kg body weight, in two different sessions at least separated by 1 week. Blood glucose levels were followed in both parts of the study by a period of 5 h. The patients had stopped their pharmacologic medication 24 h prior to each part of the study. As expected, no significant changes on blood glucose were observed after giving the vehicle; however, the oral administration of C. ficifolia was followed by a significant decrease in blood glucose levels, from 12.07+/-1.69 mM (217.2+/-30.4 mg/dl) to 9.42+/-1.96 mM (169.6+/-35.3 mg/dl) 3 h after and to 8.37+/-1.74 mM (150.8+/-31.3 mg/dl) 5 h after the extract administration. The hypoglycemic action of Cucurbita ficifolia agrees with its effects previously observed in laboratory animals. The results of this preliminary study do not give indications for the mechanism of this hypoglycemic effect.
Assuntos
Cucurbitaceae/uso terapêutico , Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2/tratamento farmacológico , Hipoglicemiantes/uso terapêutico , Fitoterapia , Adulto , Glicemia/análise , Glicemia/efeitos dos fármacos , Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2/sangue , Feminino , Humanos , Hiperglicemia/tratamento farmacológico , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeRESUMO
Wilbrandia ebracteata Cogn. (Cucurbitaceae) is commonly known in Brazil as "Taiuia". The roots are employed in folk medicine for the treatment of several diseases, such as rheumatic disease. This study has evaluated the anti-inflammatory action of dicloromethane fraction (F-DCM), purified fraction (PFIII) and Cucurbitacin B extracted from crude extract of W. ebracteata in experimental models in vivo. The F-DCM (0.3 to 10 mg.kg(-1), i.p. or 3 to 30 mg.kg(-1) p.o.) produced significant but not dose-dependent inhibition of the carrageenan-induced cell influx and exsudate leakage in the pleural cavity of mice. The F-DCM 0.01 to 10 mg.kg(-1), i.p. or 0.1 to 10 mg.kg(-1) p.o.) decreased the levels of PGE2 in the exsudate leakage induced by carrageenan in the pleural cavity after 4 h with a calculated ID50 of 0.01 (0.002-0.09, i.p.) and 0.29 (0.05-1.45, p.o.) mg.kg(-1). The PFIII (3 mg.kg(-1), i.p.) inhibited 80% of cell migration (1.50 +/- 0.09 x 10(6) cells/cavity) and exsudate leakage by about 50% (3.09 +/- 0.71 microg/ml) in relation to the control group. Cucurbitacin B (0.1 mg.kg(-1), i.p.), the main compound of PFIII, reduced significantly the levels of PGE2 in the exsudate leakage by 40.7% (10.41 +/- 2.67 ng.ml(-1)). These data show that the active principle(s) present in the F-DCM of W. ebracteata elicited pronounced anti-inflammatory effects when assessed by i.p. or p.o. routes, as well as PFIII. The F-DCM was also able to prevent PGE2 formation in exsudate leakage induced by carrageenan, as well as Cucurbitacin B, its active principle. These results indicate that the anti-inflammatory activity of Wilbrandia ebracteata can be related with the inhibition of the production of PGE2.