Vinicius Barreto da Silva’s research while affiliated with Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás and other places
What is this page?
This page lists works of an author who doesn't have a ResearchGate profile or hasn't added the works to their profile yet. It is automatically generated from public (personal) data to further our legitimate goal of comprehensive and accurate scientific recordkeeping. If you are this author and want this page removed, please let us know.
Calendula officinalis L. is a medicinal herb from the Asteraceae family with a long history of usage in culinary and folk medicine. The plant originates from southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean area and contains a wide variety of bioactive compounds, including flavonoids, triterpenoids, glycosides, saponins, carotenoids, volatile oils, amino acids, carbohydrates, steroids, sterols, and quinines. These phytoconstituents have broad applicability in the food and cosmetic industries, as they produce a matrix of multifaceted biological effects with therapeutic applications. The active ingredients of Calendula officinalis L. are generally associated with anti-cancer, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypoglicemic, hypolipidemic, and wound healing properties in experimental and clinical trials. They emerge as an interesting source of drug-like chemical entities for the conception and design of medicines to treat especially inflammatory, antineoplastic, and infectious diseases. This chapter aims to describe the drug-like and some pharmacokinetic properties of the main active ingredients from Calendula officinalis L. as well as their therapeutic properties.
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting the joints, leading to progressive destruction of cartilage and bones. This multifaceted and complex disease involves processes such as continuous inflammation, angiogenesis, cartilage degradation, and bone erosion in its pathogenesis. Adipocytes, which are cells present in adipose tissue, play a crucial role in RA by secreting adipokines, which are bioactive proteins and immunological molecules that can mediate inflammation and immune response. Among the most studied adipokines are the leptin and adiponectin, known for their effects on metabolism regulation and inflammatory response. Studies have explored the relationship between adipokines and the treatment of RA, investigating their potential for therapeutic targets. For instance, high levels of leptin have been associated with disease activity and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in the joints. Elevated adiponectin levels have been linked to RA severity, suggesting its potential role in disease progression. Treatments for RA include medications such as methotrexate and biologic agents, primarily targeting inflammatory cytokines. Recent therapeutic approaches have explored the possibility of modulating adipokine levels as an additional strategy to control inflammation and protect joints. For example, leptin signaling inhibitors have shown protective effects on cartilage in experimental models of RA. Although adipokines have emerged as important mediators in RA pathophysiology, many questions remain unanswered regarding their specific role and clinical relevance. Further research is needed to better understand how these molecules can be utilized as therapeutic targets in RA, as well as to identify biomarkers that may assist in disease diagnosis and monitoring.
Copaifera spp. are a group of Amazonian rainforest plant species widely used because of their medicinal properties, especially in folk medicine. The species also occur in Africa, Central America and Asia. The tree is called Copaíba and produces an oil-resin with valuable therapeutical characteristics, usually associated with anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antitumor, antiseptic, germicidal, antifungal, antibacterial, larvicidal and gastric protection activities. The oil-resin is composed mainly of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, like β-caryophyllene, and diterpenic acids, including copalic and kaurenoic acids. The bioactivity attributed to Copaíba oil-resin is due to the presence of these important chemical entities with valuable pharmacological properties. Copaíba oil-resin emerge as an interesting source of drug-like chemical entities candidates to the conception and design of medicines to treat particularly inflammatory, rheumatic and infectious diseases.
Statistical tools are used to obtain intermediate or final bioproducts of quality, safety, sustainability, and technical value for the development of herbal products. This directs decision-making in processes of standardization, optimization, and bringing more profitable products, in addition to leading the application of strategies that reduce presented limitations. Thus, we approach plant protection products development and production processes by applying univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics and factorial designs used in plant protection technological methods.
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a disease with no specific cause involving several cell mechanisms. The treatment for this disorder involves several drugs with different purposes. The most current treatments implicate immunobiological, which can be used in monotherapy or combined with first-line drugs. New researches are underway for increasingly effective treatments, as there are unknown aspects of RA’s pathophysiology that can be a source for new therapies. Immunobiological therapies are attributed as substances of protein origin, such as human or animal-origin antibodies, which are obtained through techniques derived from biotechnology. Immunobiological therapy is a treatment used to combat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, among them RA. The RA results from the action of self-reactive T and B cells, which leads to synovitis, cell infiltration, and a confusing process of bone destruction and remodeling. Several therapeutic antigenic targets have been described in recent years based on the participation of these diverse elements in the pathophysiology of different diseases. Its applicability in the immune system arises through several mechanisms, such as blockage or stimulation of immune pathways, resulting in better disease evolution. The first monoclonal antibodies used were of murine origin, followed by genetically modified chimeric antibodies, humanized antibodies, and fully human molecules. With the advancement in this field, several therapies are emerging and showing to be effective in significantly improving the patient’s condition, with cases where the remission of the disease is observed. Among the primary therapies, we can mention those that modulate and deplete B cells, blockers of costimulatory pathways, and anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF. Belimumab is a human monoclonal antibody to the soluble B lymphocyte stimulator (BLsY) that blocks the interaction of this stimulator to B cell receptors, thus promoting the depletion of activated B cells. On the other hand, Rituximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody (murine/human) that acts against the CD20 molecule expressed on the surface of B lymphocytes. B cells covered with anti-CD20 antibodies undergo cell-mediated cytotoxicity, are targeted by the complement system and suffer apoptosis. Similarly, Abatacept is a human fusion protein composed of an extracellular domain of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen (CTLA-4) and the Fc portion of immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1). It is a selective modulator of the second signal for activation of T lymphocytes and acts by preventing the interaction of CD80/CD86 of APCs with CD28 of T cells, though its effect in other immune pathways is still being clarified. Another immunobiological drug of great applicability for RA therapy is Tocilizumab, a monoclonal antibody anti-IL6. Many studies report significant improvements in patients and the reduction of autoantibody titers. Finally, Infliximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody composed of human and mouse peptides, whose application in patients with anti-TNF MII indicates improvement in muscle strength and reduction of muscle enzymes. The objective of this chapter is to review the concepts of immunobiological therapies based on the use of antibodies, as well as to discuss the basis of the immune response with a focus on relevant therapeutic targets. In addition, the chapter will detail the molecular mechanisms by which such elements directly interfere in the pathophysiology of several diseases, with a primary focus on rheumatoid arthritis, promoting relevant improvements in different treatments.
Hydrocotyle umbellata L., Araliaceae, is a species that is recommended in Ayurvedic medicine for its effects on the central nervous system, such as anxiolytic and memory-stimulant effects. Despite the medicinal potential of this species, its phytopharmaceutical and technological potential to produce standardized extracts has not been investigated. This study analyzes the influence of spray drying parameters on the contents of the chemical markers (total phenolic, total flavonoid, and hibalactone) and the functional properties of H. umbellata extract. The optimization of drying conditions was performed using a central composite design combined with response surface methodology and desirability function approach. The mathematical models fitted to experimental data indicated that all the evaluated drying parameters significantly influenced the chemical contents. The optimal conditions were: inlet temperature of 120 °C, feed flow rate of 4 mL min-1, and colloidal silicon dioxide:maltodextrin ratio of 16%:4%. Under these conditions, the powder samples had spherical particles and desirable physicochemical and functional properties, such as low water activity and moisture content, good product recovery, reconstitution, and flowability. Thus, spray drying might be a promising technique for processing standardized H. umbellata extracts.
Major depressive disorder is a disabling public health concern of high relevance worldwide. Psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are the main approaches employed to treat patients with depressive symptoms. Antidepressants are drugs able to relieve symptoms of depression that work by affecting neurotransmitters like noradrenaline and serotonin in the brain. Despite antidepressant drugs are one of the most prescribed medicines in medical practice because of their proven clinical benefits, exposure to side effects and lack of efficacy result in outcomes that limit pharmacotherapy performance in some individuals. Thus, the continuous development of therapeutic alternatives is a task of great importance including the design of monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors that work by increasing neurotransmitters in the central nervous system. Medicinal plants have long been an important source of medicines and the results obtained against depression models for some plant species encourage new studies focused on the selection of natural molecules able to act as antidepressant drugs or at least as lead compounds for novel projects. Hence, we describe the chemical features of main active ingredients found in medicinal plants with antidepressant properties, including Kielmeyera coriacea, Rhodiola rosea and Banisteriopsis caapi, also comparing the properties of such natural molecules with pharmacophoric features of available MAO inhibitors drugs in order to validate promising antidepressants.KeywordsAntidepressantsMedicinal plantsDrug designPharmacophore
Eugenia is the largest Neotropical genus belonging to the Myrtaceae family, comprising more than 1000 species spread across the Antilles, Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, Argentina, southern Mexico, Cuba, Uruguay, Africa, and Brazil. Eugenia genus comprises species employed in folk medicine due to their antioxidant compounds, such as polyphenols, tannins, and flavonoids. Traditionally, plants are widely used to treat inflammatory diseases and metabolic disorders. Various species from this genus possess technological potential as well. The biological properties associated with the phytochemistry profile raise a significant number of potential intermediate and final products. Thus, we approach the technological products obtained from species of the Eugenia genus, their biological potential and the main techniques employed in the future development of products with commercial value.KeywordsMyrtaceaeMedicinal plantsCerradoIntermediate products
In the early seventeenth century, smallpox was one of the most fearsome communicable diseases in the world. Lady Mary Montagu noted that the disease could be prevented by introducing liquid extracted from smallpox scabs from an infected patient into the skin of healthy individuals. This process, known as “variolation” was used in England and in USA until the first investigations by the English physician Edward Jenner appeared. Jenner created the vaccine for an animal poxvirus from the pustule formed by the vaccinia virus in the teats of cows, where the technique was essentially based on the idea that a virulent agent for animals could be attenuated in humans. In 1885, Louis Pasteur, through a fixed virus which was obtained by successive passages in the nervous tissue of rabbits with the dissecting action of potassium hydroxide, developed the vaccine against rabies, in which similar procedures were adopted in the development of several vaccines of live attenuated viruses. Already in the 1940s, a revolution occurred with the discovery that cells could be cultured in vitro and used as substrates for viral growth. Oral polio vaccine and vaccines against measles, rubella, mumps and chickenpox were made possible by selecting clones by passage in in vitro cell culture. Some RNA virus have segmented genomes that can be manipulated. Co-cultivation of two virus in cell culture with clone selection by plaque formation allows the isolation of virus with segments from both. This regrouping planned to create three main vaccines: live and inactivated influenza as well as one of two rotavirus vaccines. Another discovery in the late nineteenth century was that immunogenicity could be maintained as the substance contained in those killed by heat or chemical treatment. This type of inactivation was first applied to pathogens of typhoid fever, plague and cholera bacilli. In the twentieth century, chemical inactivation was also applied to a virus. The influenza vaccine was the first successful inactivated virus vaccine, developed against Polio and Hepatitis A. Besides, several vaccines consist of partially or fully purified proteins. Most of the inactivated flu vaccines used are created by growing the virus in embryonated eggs and then breaking down the entire virus with detergents. The viral hemagglutinin protein is purified to serve as the vaccine antigen, although other influenza virus components may be part of the final product. Early in the history of bacteriology, morphological studies and chemical analyzes showed that many pathogens were surrounded by a polysaccharide capsule and that antibodies against the capsule could promote phagocytosis. The first use of this information to create a vaccine was the development of the meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine. After years of study and development in bacterology, the scientific community faced the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, marked by the race against time in the invention of effective vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. After all, most of vaccines take more than a decade to be formulated and, in the case of the vaccine against the new coronavirus, in less than a year, at least 34 candidate vaccines appeared in clinical analysis. New vaccine production techniques using DNA and RNA recombination techniques are being implemented in this race. In Brazil, the most widely distributed vaccines approved by Anvisa are AstraZeneca, CoronaVac and Pfizer-BioNTech. The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine is composed of a non-replicating viral vector, which consists of a defective chipamzee virus (adenovirus), with a segment of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, responsible for producing the structure present on the viral surface (protein S), being recognized by human cells, triggering an immune response against Coronavirus. The CoronaVac vaccine is composed by the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus, along with its complete structure. It is unable to multiply, although it can stimulate the response to produce antibodies. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, on the other hand, consists of a formulated lipid nanoparticle of nucleoside-modified mRNA that encodes the pre-fusion peak glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. Despite the small amount of dose applications in Brazil, the Janssen vaccine has recently started its distribution in the country. This is the only vaccine, so far, with a single dose application. It is an adenovirus 26 (Ad26) vector vaccine that contains in its interior genetic material of the S protein contained in the surface spikes of SARS-CoV-2, and that stimulates, after application, the cellular responses of T CD4 + and T CD8 + antibodies. Here, we propose a detailed review of the entire history of vaccination, from Smallpox to Covid-19.KeywordsVaccinationImmunizationAntigenPandemicsCoronavirus
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychiatric illnesses in the world's population. As current pharmacotherapy is not effective and safe for all patients, seeking complementary treatment has increased. Hydrocotyle umbellata L., Araliaceae, is an herb long recognized for its anxiolytic and memory stimulant effects. This work aimed to evaluate the anxiolytic-like effects and the impact on memory of the spray-dried Hydrocotyle umbellata L. extract (SDHUE) in mice and to assess its toxicological potential. The anxiolytic-like effects of SDHUE (75, 150, 300, or 600 mg/kg) were assessed on elevated plus maze (EPM) and light-dark box (LDB) tests, and the participation of the benzodiazepine site of GABAA and 5-HT1A receptors was investigated. The memory retention of the animals was evaluated in the step-down avoidance (SDA) test, and the possible effects on learning and memory processes were assessed by ex vivo cholinesterase (ChE) activity. The toxicity assays were evaluated in terms of cytotoxicity in RAW macrophage cells, mutagenic effects by the Ames test, and embryotoxic potential using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) model. Pretreatment with flumazenil (2 mg/kg) prevented the anxiolytic-like activity induced by SDHUE. No signs of memory impairment on short- and long-term memory were detected with SDHUE treatment in the SDA test. The inhibition of ChE activity in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus was also observed with SDHUE treatment. Moreover, it was verified an absence of apparent toxic effects. Thus, this extract may offer a promising approach for further safe and effective application in the treatment of anxiety.
... Polyacetylenes are bioactive compounds in plants such as carrots, celery, and marigolds. They exhibit anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal properties [204,205]. For example, falcarinol and falcarindiol, found in carrots, reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in mouse models by inhibiting cancer cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis, offering potential therapeutic applications in humans [206]. ...
... MAO enzyme belongs to the protein family of Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide (FAD) dependent enzymes. These enzymes form an aromatic cage that targets the amine group for the substrate binding, which undergoes oxidation and is a cofactor covalently bound to a cysteine residue [28][29][30][31][32]. MAO enzymes are the outer membrane enzymes of mitochondria [33][34][35][36][37]. Two isoforms of MAO are MAO-A and MAO-B [38][39][40][41][42] and have a similar mechanism of action termed as 'polar nucleophilic mechanism'. ...
... Although certain studies have demonstrated the pharmacological potential of Z. rhoifolium, and there are preliminary toxicity studies with conflicting results, there is still a lack of studies that investigate whether this possible toxicity is related to the alkaloids present in this species. The in silico prediction of the toxicity of compounds allows us to choose among the available components those which will progress to future phases of analysis, thus utilizing mathematical methods that, when based on structure-property models, allow a reduction in expenses and avoid the unnecessary use of animals [26]. Several biological activities of extracts from Z. rhoifolium have been described, such as action against promastigotes and amastigotes [13], an inhibitory effect on macrophage infection in Leishmania amazonensis [14], activity against intestinal nematodes [15], and antibacterial [7,16], antifungal [17], antiplasmodial [18], and antitumor activities [19]. ...
... The structure of GABA-A receptor (human synaptic PDB ID: 6D6U) [24] was obtained and used in order to perform docking simulations. A docking research has previously made advantage of this structure 25 . The size and centre coordinates of the search domain box around the active binding site predicted by MOE were 147.0 x 141.0 x 138.7 and 73.5 x 34.7 x 66.9, respectively. ...
... TGF-β1 can regulate the activity and expression of MMP-9 to a certain extent, so that the remodeling of the ECM is in a state of dynamic equilibrium, neither over-degraded nor over-deposited, and the normal repair of tissues is promoted. MMP-2 is involved in the degradation of ECM, which is necessary for cell migration and tissue remodeling (D'Abadia et al., 2020). TGF-β1 can indirectly inhibit MMP-2 activity by upregulating the expression of TIMPs. ...
... There are more than 100 synthetic derivatives of psoralen used in extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) [6]. When psoralen is exposed to UVA rays at a wavelength of 320-400nm, it forms the C4 psoralen-thymine compound, which binds to DNA pyrimidine bases [7]. In addition to blocking DNA synthesis, its reactivity to lipid membranes and cell elements contributes to cellular cytotoxicity [8]. ...
... Current study reveals that lipids in NDCB are maintained at higher levels than in DCB, which may be one of the reasons for their higher quality. In addition, it has been shown that coffee lipids are valuable materials for the production of essential fatty acids (Fernandes et al., 2022), antifoams (Ishwarya and Nisha, 2021), antioxidants, and radiation protectors (Boger et al., 2021;Faria et al., 2020). Although the total lipid content in SCB, DCB, and MCB is lower than that of NDCB, they still have a considerable presence, suggesting the potential utilization value of lipids in these products. ...
... For instance, it is widely known that inflammation increases the genesis of free radicals, being anti-inflammatory agents also valuable in keeping tissue integrity. Moreover, polyphenols are acknowledged to bind to many inflammation-related targets and nucleic acids, as well as enzymes whose role is to regulate neuron communication, such as acetylcholinesterase [11,12,18]. ...
... Результатом проведенных изысканий стала возможность использования определенных значений эндотелина-1 и метаболитов оксида азота в сыворотке крови в качестве критериев формирования эрозивного поражения слизистой оболочки гастродуоденальной области [31]. ...
... N-acylhydrazones (NAHs) are important scaffolds in drug design [22]. Potent anticancer, antiviral, antifungal, antiparasitic agents [41][42][43][44][45][46][47], and inhibitors of the action of biomolecules are known. The incorporation of the NAH unit in the backbones of drugs or biologically relevant scaffolds (i.e. ...