The GenusPsychotria: Phytochemistry, Chemotaxonomy, Ethnopharmacology and Biological Properties

Abstract

Psychotria genus (Rubiaceae) is featured into the angiosperm, being the most speciose genus comprising approximately 1600 species. The available references demonstrate that Psychotria has several uses on traditional medicine including spiritual and cultural purposes, and presents great potential on pharmacological properties, especially the one related to neurodegenerative diseases. Despite its wide biological properties, this genus has shown complex phylogenetic analysis due to lack of chemotaxonomic information. In recent years, the interest in these plants has increased considerably and many active compounds have been isolated. Phytochemical investigations described in the literature confirmed the indole alkaloids as the major compounds and besides that, another particular chemical constituent are cyclic peptides, known as cyclotides. This present review will cover the relevant literature from 1962 until 2015, and outlines the current data on taxonomy, chemotaxonomy, traditional uses, pharmacological properties, chemical composition and ecological approach from Psychotria genus.

Fruits as Prospective Reserves of bioactive Compounds: A Review

“…The antioxidant activity was investigated in aqueous methanol extract of leaves of Prunus avium , Prunus persica , Prunus domestica , Olea europea , Pirus communis , Pirus malus , Pistachia verra , and Castanea sativa and it was found that the leaves of chestnut and plum have the greatest antioxidant activity while lowest was observed in peach, olive and cherry [ 25 ]. Psychotria genus is cited as possessing highl anti-oxidant activity which might be due to the presence of monoterpene alkaloids psycolatine, brachicerine isolated from P. brachiceras and P. umbellata [ 2 ]. Chokeberry and elderberry were also indicated as good sources of antioxidant [ 36 ].…”

“…Leaf extracts of Eugenia uniflora proved efficient against Leishmania amazonensis [ 22 ]. Antiviral activity was reported with P. ipecacuanha alkaloids and emetine was found to inhibit the HIV virus, while P. serpens extract suppressed herpes simplex [ 2 ]. Syzygium cumini fruit juice extract possessed antibacterial and gastroprotective activity [ 28 ].…”

“…Another plant with anti-inflammatory effects is Prunus persica [ 47 ]. Extract of the Psychotria species were evaluated in vitro being the most pronounced anti-inflammatory activity found in P. suturela , P. stachioides and P. capitata [ 2 ]. Anti-inflammatory effect was also observed in the juice extract of Syzygium cumini (also known as Eugenia jambolanum ) [ 28 ].…”

“…Moreover, parts such as bark, leaf, flower and roots also possess beneficial properties to humans. In fact, some wild fruit species like Psychotria genus, are not normally consumed by man but their parts have numerous pharmaceutical and medicinal properties [ 1 , 2 ].…”

TOXICITY OF ALKALOID FRACTIONS FROM Psychotria spp. (RUBIACEAE) AGAINST Atta sexdens FOREL, 1908 (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)

“…Among the secondary metabolites described from the genus Psychotria, the alkaloids stand out (Calixto et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2016;Carvalho Junior et al, 2017). To exemplify the importance of alkaloids in Psychotria spp., it is worth mentioning that this class of secondary metabolites has chemotaxonomic value in the genus (Lopes et al, 2004).…”