Hancornia speciosa latex for biomedical applications: physical and chemical properties, biocompatibility assessment and angiogenic activity

Abstract

The latex obtained from Hancornia speciosa is used in folk medicine for treatment of several diseases, such as acne, warts, diabetes, gastritis and inflammation. In this work, we describe the biocompatibility assessment and angiogenic properties of H. speciosa latex and its potential application in medicine. The physical-chemical characterization was carried out following different methodologies (CHN elemental analyses; thermogravimetric analyses and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy). The biocompatibility was evaluated through cytotoxicity and genotoxicity tests in fibroblast mouse cells and the angiogenic properties were evaluated using the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay model. The physical-chemical results showed that the structure of Hancornia speciosa latex biomembrane is very similar to that of Hevea brasiliensis (commercially available product). Moreover, the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assays showed that H. speciosa latex is biocompatible with life systems and can be a good biomaterial for medical applications. The CAM test showed the efficient ability of H. speciosa latex in neovascularization of tissues. The histological analysis was in accordance with the results obtained in the CAM assay. Our data indicate that the latex obtained from H. speciosa and eluted in water showed significant angiogenic activity without any cytotoxic or genotoxic effects on life systems. The same did not occur with H. speciosa latex stabilized with ammonia. Addition of ammonia does not have significant effects on the structure of biomembranes, but showed a smaller cell survival and a significant genotoxicity effect. This study contributes to the understanding of the potentialities of H. speciosa latex as a source of new phytomedicines.

Evaluation of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of Hancornia speciosa latex in Allium cepa root model

“…The cytotoxic and genotoxic results obtained in the present study are in agreement with Almeida et al (2014), who tested the H. speciosa latex cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in mice fibroblast culture cells using the red neutral test and comet assay; these authors concluded that the H. speciosa latex (diluted 1:1 in water) does not present toxicity in vitro. In the same study, the authors evaluated the angiogenic potential of H. speciosa latex and observed an increase in the vascularization of chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) eggs, which suggested an angiogenic effect (Almeida et al, 2014). Maybe the increase in MI observed in this study can be associated to this angiogenic potential, since the angiogenesis process is characterized by cell proliferation.…”

“…In the case of H. speciosa, some scientific studies have showed the pharmacological potential of different parts of this plant. The extract obtained from the leaves has a hypotensive effect (Ferreira et al, 2007;Silva et al, 2011), the bark has anti-bactericidal activity (Moraes et al, 2008), and the latex has anti-inflammatory (Marinho et al, 2011) and angiogenic activities (Almeida et al, 2014). All these studies have been important to validating popular use of the mangabeira in diverse health practices.…”

“…Moraes et al (2008) demonstrated scientifically that this latex has gastro protective and healing activities in mice. More recently, its angiogenic properties were demonstrated using the chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay model (Almeida et al, 2014). The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity potential of H. speciosa latex through in vitro genotoxicity bioassay on mitotic cells of A. cepa root tips.…”

Uses and technological prospects for the mangaba, a native fruit of Brazil

“…The latex showed efficiency in the induction of angiogenesis by promoting a healing process without genotoxic and cytotoxic activities (Almeida et al, 2014).…”

Intraspecific differentiation of Hancornia speciosa revealed by simple sequence repeat and random amplified polymorphic DNA markers

“…Different flavonoids, catechins, anthocyanins, and tannins extracted from the bark may be used to treat the gastritis caused by Helicobacter pylori (Moraes et al, 2008) or to stimulate liver functions and help treat diabetes, hypertension, and dermatitis (Ritter et al, 2002;Macedo and Ferreira, 2004). Recently, the latex from this species was shown to have antiinflammatory (Marinho et al, 2011) and angiogenic properties (Almeida et al, 2014).…”