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Ayahuasca is a psychoactive infusion with a large pharmacological application normally prepared with Banisteriopsis caapi, which contains the monoamine oxidase inhibitors β-carbolines, and Psichotria virids, which contains the serotonin receptor agonist N,N dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The objectives of this study were to investigate the chemical profile of B. caapi and of ayahuasca collected in various Brazilian regions. In total, 176 plant lianas, of which 159 B. caapi and 33 ayahuasca samples were analyzed. Dried liana samples were powdered, extracted with methanol, diluted, and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Ayahuasca samples were diluted and analyzed. Mean concentrations in B. caapi were 4.79 mg/g harmine, 0.451 mg/g harmaline, and 2.18 mg/g tetrahydroharmine (THH), with a high variability among the samples (RSD from 78.9 to 170%). Native B. caapi samples showed significantly higher harmine concentrations than cultivated ones, and samples from the Federal District/Goiás had higher THH content than those collected in the State of Acre. The other Malpighiaceae samples did not contain β-carbolines, except for one D. pubipetala sample. Concentrations in ayahuasca samples ranged from 0.109 to 7.11 mg/mL harmine, 0.012 to 0.945 mg/mL harmaline, 0.09 to 3.05 mg/mL THH, and 0.10 to 3.12 mg/mL DMT. The analysis of paired ayahuasca/B. caapi confirmed that harmine is reduced to harmaline and to THH during the brew preparation. This is the largest study conducted with Malpighiaceae samples and showed a large variability in the main β-carbolines present in B. caapi. This biodiversity is a challenge for standardization of the material used in ethnopharmacological studies of B. caapi and ayahuasca.

Nimesulide is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that selectively inhibits cyclo-oxigenase-2 (COX-2), and a class-II drug according to the Biopharmaceutical Classification System. A great variety of solid oral dosage forms that contain nimesulide is available in the market, including generics and similar medicines, and capsules prepared in magistral pharmacies. In this study, the tablets of seven different laboratories were analyzed for their physical-chemical properties, three generic products (G1, G2 and G3), three similar (S1, S2 and S3); and one reference product (R). Five capsules (M1-M5) were obtained from five different magistral pharmacies from Brasilia. The nimesulide reference standard was considered pure after the determination of melting point and spectrophotometric behavior in infrared and UV/visible regions. An UV/visible spectrophotometric analytical method to determine the content of nimesulide in magistral capsules and a dissolution test for magistral capsules were satisfactorily validated. The dissolution profiles in potassium phosphate buffer pH 7.4 with 2% polysorbate 80 of the products were determined with 12 units, at 37°C, with paddles (tablets) and baskets (capsules), 75 RPM, and 5 mL aliquots withdrawn at 5 to 45 minutes. The difference and similar factors (f1 e f2) and dissolution efficiency (DE%) and dissolution kinetics were determined by the application of zero order, quadratic and Higuchi models. Tukey t-test was used to compare the mean values of DE%. The physical-chemical properties of all tablet products were in accordance to the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia. Magistral products M1, M2 and M4 did not yield acceptable nimesulide content results, and M1 was disapproved regarding uniformity of dosage units. All tablet products showed more than 75% of dissolution within 45 minutes of process.None of the capsules reached this value. With the exception of S3 (f2 = 47,24), the dissolution profiles of tablet products were similar to product R. DE% between product R and G2, G3 and S3 were statistically different. The Higuchi model was the most suitable to describe the dissolution profiles of the tablet products. The results of this study showed the need of a revision of the Brasilian legislation concerning the magistral pharmacies in order to garantee products of good qualities of all types of formulations available to the patient.

Banisteriopsis caapi is used to prepare the psychoactive beverage ayahuasca, and both have therapeutic potential for the treatment of many central nervous system (CNS) conditions. This study aimed to isolate new bioactive compounds from B. caapi extract and evaluate their biological activity, and that of the known β-carboline components of the plant (harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine), in BV-2 microglial cells, the in vivo activation of which is implicated in the physiopathology of CNS disorders. B. caapi extract was fractionated using semipreparative liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD) and the exact masses ([M + H]+m/z) of the compounds in the 5 isolated fractions were determined by high-resolution LC-MS/MS: F1 (174.0918 and 233.1289), F2 (353.1722), F3 (304.3001), F4 (188.1081), and F5 (205.0785). Harmine (75.5–302 µM) significantly decreased cell viability after 2 h of treatment and increased the number of necrotic cells and production of reactive oxygen species at equal or lower concentrations after 24 h. F4 did not impact viability but was also cytotoxic after 24 h. Most treatments reduced proinflammatory cytokine production (IL-2, IL-6, IL-17, and/or TNF), especially harmaline and F5 at 2.5 µM and higher concentrations, tetrahydroharmine (9.3 µM and higher), and F5 (10.7 µM and higher). The results suggest that the compounds found in B. caapi extract have anti-inflammatory potential that could be explored for the development of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

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