Hospital Infection is a major health problem and affects around 1.5 million people annually around the world. The Amazon region has a wide diversity of native palm trees that have fruits and oilseeds. Astrocaryum vulgare, commonly known as Tucumã in Brazil, belongs to the family Arecaceae. This palm has orange, fleshy, single-egg-shaped fruits that are used for therapeutic purposes in diseases of the eyes and skin due to the high content of carotenoids, oil is used in cooking, health treatment and massage. This study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of the Tucumã oil against 18 microorganisms. The antimicrobial activity of Tucumã was measured through the determination of the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), as well as the determination of the Minimum Microbicidal Concentration (CMM) aiming to contribute to the discovery of new antimicrobials against pathogenic microorganisms’ human health and may contribute to the treatment of nosocomial infections. The results showed that the oil of Tucumã presented antimicrobial activity against five important bacteria, four Gram - positive bacteria (Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus agalactiae) and one Gram - negative (Acinetobacter baumannii).

The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of tucumã oil nanocapsules from the Amazon region in silver catfish, Rhamdia quelen. Fish were exposed to water treated with different concentrations of tucumã nanocapsules, white, solubilized oil and surfactant vehicles. After three days of exposure, fish were euthanized and liver, gills and brain removed for analysis of the dichlorofluorescein, nitric oxide and PicoGreen ® assays. Plasma was collected for assay of hepatic transaminases. The nanocapsules had a diameter of 221±1.27 nm, confirmed by atomic force microscopy. The oil nanocapsules were not toxic to this species of fish, but white nanocapsules and surfactant increased the levels of reactive oxygen species. Thus, nanocapsules are promising for the transport of tucumã oil. In view of the anti-inflammatory properties of this oil, it is possible to envisage its application in skin diseases for example, since they present essentially inflammatory conditions.

The chemotherapeutic all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) used in the treatment of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia has adverse effects on its oral administration, with which we incorporated a system of drugs, the nanocapsules, in order to have a possible improvement in solubility, photosensitivity, lower toxicity, generating pharmacological efficacy. The objective was to evaluate and compare the hemolytic and coagulation activity of the free drug (AL), nanoencapsulated (NA) and the white nanocapsules (NB) by analyzing the results of hemolysis, Prothrombin Time (PT) and Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT). We developed a prospective study of treatments at different concentrations of 0.25; 0.5; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0; 2.5 μg/mL. For the first test, all concentrations showed hemolytic activity, but when compared to NA with ATRA it is observed that these carriers induced lower hemolytic toxicity. In the PT test the nanoparticles at the two lowest concentrations remained in the physiological range (12 - 15 seconds). For the APTT test the three lowest concentrations remained within the control (25 - 35 seconds). Thus, we believe there is a promising benefit of using these nanoparticles developed and no doubt further studies will be performed to confirm the responses obtained here.

To present a possible new alternative for wound treatment, this work evaluated the biological safety and therapeutic efficacy of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanoparticles (NPs). First, the nanostructures were studied in silico and showed to be able to inhibit the production of some pro-inflammatory cytokines and stimulate the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, especially rGO. The results of the morphological and structural characterization of GO NPs synthesized from the Hummers method and reduced by ascorbic acid, were consistent with the literature, confirming their achievement. In the broth microdilution assay, GO and rGO showed antimicrobial activity against the clinical isolate of Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 625 µg/mL for GO and 312.5 µg/mL for rGO. In addition, the nanostructure of rGO was able to inhibit, in subinhibitory concentration, the formation of S. agalactiae biofilm by up to 77% when compared to the positive control. Both NPs, in all tested concentrations, did not cause hemolysis, and alterations in coagulation in vitro assays. However, in the safety tests, it was evidenced that only the MIC of 312, µg/mL for rGO was biologically safe and presented anti-inflammatory and healing behavior in vitro. In general, the present work confirmed rGO's potential in the treatment of chronic wounds, since in silico showed anti-inflammatory behavior and in vitro showed therapeutic efficacy at low concentrations, prevented biofilm formation, and showed no significant toxic effects.

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