PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Látex.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Catártico.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: The objective of this work was to characterize exotic fruits (cambuci, araca-boi, camu-camu, jaracatia, araca) and com. frozen pulps (araca, cambuci, umbu, coquinho, pana, native passion fruit, cagaita) from Brazil in relation to their bioactive compds. contents and antioxidant capacity.  Camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia) presented the highest vitamin C and total phenolics contents (397 and 1797 mg/100 g f.w., resp.) and the highest DPPH* scavenging capacity.  Coquinho (Butia capitata) also showed a significant vitamin C content (43 mg/100 g f.w.).  Among the com. frozen pulps, cagaita presented the higher DPPH scavenging activity and inhibition of beta-carotene bleaching.  A good correlation between total phenols and DPPH scavenging activity was found for fruits (r = 0.997) and com. frozen pulps (r = 0.738).  However, no correlation was found for total phenols and inhibition of beta-carotene bleaching.  Quercetin and kaempferol derivs. were the main flavonoids present in all samples and cyanidin derivs. were detected only in camu-camu.  Camu-camu and araca (Psidium guineensis) showed the highest total ellagic acid contents (48 and 63.5 mg/100 g f.w.).  All com. frozen pulps presented lower contents of bioactive compds. and antioxidant capacity than their resp. fruits.  According to our results, camu-camu and araca might be sources of bioactive compds.

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: NE. de Argentina. 

DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants and improvement of medicinal herbs

The chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA diversity of 61 genotypes belonging to 18 Vasconcellea species, the so-called highland papayas, was studied by PCR-RFLP anal. of two non-coding cpDNA regions (trnM-rbcL and trnK1-trnK2) and one non-coding mtDNA region (nad4/1-nad4/2).  This sample set was supplemented with six genotypes belonging to three other Caricaceae genera: the monotypic genus Carica, including only the cultivated papaya, and the genera Jacaratia and Cylicomorpha.  Moringa ovalifolia was added as an outgroup species.  The PCR-amplified cpDNA regions were digested with 18 restriction endonucleases, the mtDNA region with 11.  A total of 22 point mutations and four insertion/deletions were scored in the sample.  A higher level of interspecific variation was detected in the two cpDNA regions in comparison to the anal. of the mtDNA.  Wagner parsimony and Neighbor-Joining anal. resulted in dendrograms with similar topologies.  PCR-RFLP anal. supported the monophyly of Caricaceae, but among the 26 mutations scored, an insufficient no. of markers discriminated between the different Caricaceae genera included in this study.  Hence the inference of the intergeneric relationships within Caricaceae was impossible.  However, some conclusions can be noted at a lower taxonomic level.  The Caricaceae species were divided into two lineages.  One group included only Vasconcellea spp., whereas the second included the remaining Vasconcellea spp., together with the papaya genotypes and those from the other Caricaceae genera.  This may indicate a higher level of inter-fertility for the Vasconcellea species from the latter clade in interspecific crossings with papaya.  The putative progenitors of the natural sterile hybrid V. ´ heilbornii, i.e.  V. stipulata and V. cundinamarcensis, were only distantly related to V. ´ heilbornii.  This indicates that probably none of these species was involved as the maternal progenitor in the origin of V. ´ heilbornii.  Surprisingly, V.
´ heilbornii had organellar genome patterns identical with V. weberbaueri, suggesting a possible involvement of this species in the origin of V. ´ heilbornii.  On the basis of discrepancy between morphol. traits and the cpDNA profiles of some pairs of Vasconcellea species, we believe that besides V. ´ heilbornii, some other species have originated through interspecific hybridization.  A reticulate evolution for Vasconcellea has therefore been suggested.  Finally, intraspecific cpDNA variation was detected in V. microcarpa, thus providing mol. evidence for the high diversity previously indicated by morphol. observations.

Uses: worm.                                                 

Origin: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname.

1) TOURSARKISSIAN, Martín. Plantas medicinales de Argentina : sus nombres botánicos, vulgares, usos y distribución geográfica. Buenos Aires : Hemisferio Sur, 1980, p.23.

2) GENOVESE, M. I., et al. Bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of exotic fruits and commercial frozen pulps from Brazil. Food Science and Technology International (London, United Kingdom). 2008, vol.14, nº3, p.207-214.
 
3) VAN DROOGENBROECK, B., et al. Phylogenetic analysis of the highland papayas (Vasconcellea) and allied genera (Caricaceae) using PCR-RFLP. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 2004, vol.108, nº8, p.1473-1486.

4) Geraldini , Isanete, Journal of Ethnopharmacology v. 173, 2015 . -- p. 383-423