Presentation
A considerable number of medicines come from plants. Brazil has the greatest biodiversity on the planet, made up of ecosystems such as the Amazon Rainforest, the Atlantic Rainforest, the Cerrado and other biomes of great importance that are still little explored by science. UNIP's Biodiversity Research Center was created with the aim of carrying out large-scale studies in these environments. To do this, samples of plant extracts are tested in biological, pharmacological or phytochemical models, then selected and fractionated in order to identify the compound responsible for the observed activity. Programs of this nature seek to test a large number of samples in a short period of time, using minimal amounts of extract. NPBio is part of the Postgraduate Programs in Environmental and Experimental Pathology and Dentistry, contributing significantly to the advancement of research in these areas.
Specific objectives:
- To train human resources in Sciences, with an emphasis on Health;
- Develop studies aimed at identifying new drugs from plants in the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest;
- Identify pharmacologically active substances of relevance to human and veterinary health;
- Promote cooperation between teaching and research institutions.
Histórico
In 1996, Dr. Drauzio Varella, in partnership with Dr. Riad N. Younes, opened the Extraction Laboratory. Since then, the researchers have been collecting plant species from different families, with the aim of obtaining organic and aqueous extracts from the ground material, following protocols from the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health in the United States.
As the research progressed, other laboratories were created, such as the UNIP Herbarium and the Botany Laboratory, which are responsible for receiving and taxonomically identifying the samples collected, under the curatorship of the herbarium. The botany group is currently carrying out studies in various biomes of ecological importance, such as the Atlantic Forest, the Amazon, the Cerrado and Restinga areas, with a focus on forest dynamics over time.
Subsequently, the Antitumor Screening Laboratory was created, with support from FAPESP, to carry out cytotoxicity tests to identify extracts capable of inhibiting the growth of human tumor cells, in vitro, also based on techniques from the National Cancer Institute.
Subsequently, the Microbiology Laboratory was set up to evaluate the activity of plant extracts against bacteria relevant to human and veterinary health. At the same time, the Phytochemistry Laboratory was set up, responsible for fractionating and purifying the active compounds present in the extracts, a stage that requires high-tech equipment to isolate and elucidate the molecular structure of these substances.
To make this phase of the work possible, collaborations have been established with leading institutions such as the Sírio-Libanês Hospital, UNICAMP and USP. The principle guiding the use of the extract library is to allow each extract to be subjected to as many biological and chemical tests as possible, promoting the accumulation of pharmacological and phytochemical data that contributes to the valorization of Brazilian biodiversity.
Lines of Research
- Screening of Brazilian plants with antitumor and antibacterial activity;
- Experimental models in immunopathology and immunotoxicology;
- Evaluation of the cytotoxic response of plant extracts;
- Evaluation of the antibacterial response of plant extracts;
- Evaluation of the antioxidant response of plant extracts;
- Evaluation of the toxicity of plant extracts;
- Essential oils in Amazonian plants: seasonal variation and biological activity;
- Study of the activity of plant extracts against Escherichia coli;
- Efficacy of natural products used as aids in the management of the elderly under nursing care;
- Evaluation of the influence of medicinal plants administered to pregnant rats on the behavior of pups challenged by stress in the young adult phase;
- Evaluation of the activity of plant extracts on dental biofilm.
Laboratories
UNIP Herbarium
In academic and scientific circles, “herbarium” refers to a collection of dried plants, duly identified, labeled and stored in appropriate conditions. These collections are essential for recording the occurrence of plant species in specific locations and serve as a reference for various scientific studies, guaranteeing the traceability of the collections made.
The UNIP Herbarium was created on the Paulista campus in 1997, shortly after the implementation of the project “Selection, extraction and identification of new anti-tumor and anti-bacterial drugs from Brazilian plants”, coordinated by Dr. Drauzio Varella in 1996. Carried out mainly in the Amazon Rainforest, the project generated the need to properly store herborized samples (“vouchers”) of the plants collected and used in the production of extracts at UNIP's Extraction Laboratory, serving as testimonial material.
This is how UNIP's scientific plant collection came to be, officially registered as Herbarium UNIP with the Herbarium Commission of the Botanical Society of Brazil (SBB) in 1999 and with the Index Herbariorum in 2003, under the curatorship of biologist Dr. Mateus Luís Barradas Paciencia.
With the strengthening of basic research activities at the University, new projects in the areas of botany and ecology were incorporated, expanding the scope of the herbarium, which began to receive botanical material from various regions of the country. Currently, the collection has around 11,000 records, making it one of the main private herbaria in the state of São Paulo. Approximately 6,000 of these records refer to Amazonian plants (around 1,500 to 2,000 different species), consolidating the UNIP Herbarium as an important reference source for these species.
More information can be found on the New York Botanical Garden - Index Herbariorum page (http://www.nybg.org/bsci/ih/), under the acronym UNIP.
Extraction Laboratory
The idea of researching Amazonian biodiversity arose in the early 1990s, after a visit by Dr. Drauzio Varella to the region. Observing the selective action of fungi on the leaves of different trees, he realized the immense untapped scientific potential of the forest, as well as the lack of systematic research aimed at identifying bioactive compounds with therapeutic applications, especially in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases.
Inspired by laboratory models at the National Cancer Institute, linked to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, UNIP's Extraction Laboratory was set up at the end of the 1990s. Its main objective is to systematically obtain as many plant extracts as possible from Brazilian plants for subsequent evaluation in biological and pharmacological trials.
The laboratory currently houses an extract library with more than 2,000 samples from the Amazon and the Atlantic Rainforest, stored at -20 °C in cold rooms. Each sample is subjected to an extraction process that generates two types of extract - one organic and the other aqueous - in order to cover compounds with different polarities.
After extraction, the samples are diluted in appropriate solvents and evaluated in biological models. Those with relevant activity are fractionated, and the active compounds are isolated, identified and retested to confirm their biological activity, and compared to reference substances.
Maintaining the extract library enables the continuous availability of samples for testing in multiple in vitro models, optimizing screening and the discovery of new pharmacological tools applicable to the study of various pathologies.
Microbiology Laboratory
The Microbiology Laboratory was created with the aim of evaluating the antimicrobial activity of plant extracts against microorganisms associated with human and animal diseases. Initially, more than 1,200 extracts were tested against four bacteria: two Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis) and two Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli).
With the incorporation of NPBio into the Postgraduate Programs in Dentistry and Environmental and Experimental Pathology, the microbiological tests were expanded. The extracts were also tested against microorganisms of specific interest to these areas, such as Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguis, Candida albicans, Prevotella intermedia and Porphyromonas gingivalis, which are relevant to the etiology of caries and periodontal diseases.
The models used are validated and optimized to allow the analysis of a large number of samples per week, using minimal amounts of extract.
Laboratório de Triagem Antitumoral
This laboratory was set up to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of extracts and natural samples against human malignant tumor cell lines grown in vitro. Its implementation was funded by FAPESP and was based on protocols from the National Cancer Institute (NCI/NIH), which also collaborated with the technology transfer.
The current panel of tumor cells includes seven lineages: breast, prostate, lung, colon, central nervous system, leukemia and head and neck. More than 1,200 extracts have already been submitted to cytotoxic tests, of which 120 showed lethality of more than 15% of the cells in culture, when compared to untreated controls.
These promising extracts will subsequently be fractionated and re-evaluated in biological models, as well as being subjected to analysis of their chemical classes. It is planned to include new tumor cell lines in the panel, especially from the head and neck, as well as cells of importance in veterinary oncology.
Contact
UNIP Research Center - Indianópolis
Rua Doutor Bacelar, 902 - Zip Code: 04026-002
Phone: (11) 5071-8439
Responsible: Prof. Dr. Ivana Suffredini
E-mail: extractlab@unip.br