1as Jornadas do Projeto INTERACT

SCREENING OF PLANT EXTRACTS FOR BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY

Focus on Asteracea and Lamiaceae familyLuís Félix

Prof. Dr. Amélia Silva and Prof. Dr Carlos VenâncioISAC, P4 – Bioactives from vegetable crops, MAPs and natural co-products

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INTRODUCTION

• Plants have been used as drugs by humans since thousands of years ago.• basis of sophisticated Traditional Medicine.

• Nowadays, they continue to have an important role in healthcare.• natural products are still being used/studied as new medicines with potential for novel drug leads as valuable

and important part in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries.

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INTRODUCTION

• Species from Asteracea and Lamiaceae family are common in aromatic plantcommunities in the western Mediterranean.

• Their biological properties and composition have been

described in recent years and are reported as important

families for the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic

industries with increasing economic value.

• However, much of the potential effects and benefits of this plant remains largely undescribed and more research is still need in order to prove all its many potentials.

• Nonvolatile constituents have been less studied.

http://www.qca.pt/iniciativas/mapa4.html

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OBJECTIVES

• Obtain bioactives from selected species: . Thymus vulgaris

• Thymus frangrantissimus (hybrid)

• Santolina rosmarinifolia (Iberian Pen. endemic)

• Salvia (Iberian Pen. endemic - planned)

Thymus vulgaris Thymus fragrantissimus Santolina rosmarinifolia

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OBJECTIVES

• Validate their biological properties by several methodologies, frombiochemical assays to experiments on cellular and animal models.• Focus on neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and toxicological properties.

• Valorize phytochemicals for emerging industrial applications.

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FRAMEWORK