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Constituents and Pharmacological Activities of Myrcia (Myrtaceae): A Review of an Aromatic and Medicinal Group of Plants

2015; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 16; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/ijms161023881

1661-6596

Márcia Moraes Cascaes, Giselle Maria Skelding Pinheiro Guilhon, Eloísa Helena de Aguiar Andrade, Maria das Graças B. Zoghbi, Lourivaldo da Silva Santos,

Essential Oils and Antimicrobial Activity

Myrcia is one of the largest genera of the economically important family Myrtaceae. Some of the species are used in folk medicine, such as a group known as "pedra-hume-caá" or "pedra-ume-caá" or "insulina vegetal" (insulin plant) that it is used for the treatment of diabetes. The species are an important source of essential oils, and most of the chemical studies on Myrcia describe the chemical composition of the essential oils, in which mono- and sesquiterpenes are predominant. The non-volatile compounds isolated from Myrcia are usually flavonoids, tannins, acetophenone derivatives and triterpenes. Anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, antioxidant, antimicrobial activities have been described to Myrcia essential oils, while hypoglycemic, anti-hemorrhagic and antioxidant activities were attributed to the extracts. Flavonoid glucosides and acetophenone derivatives showed aldose reductase and α-glucosidase inhibition, and could explain the traditional use of Myrcia species to treat diabetes. Antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory are some of the activities observed for other isolated compounds from Myrcia.