ABSTRACT The bioavailability, toxicity, and therapeutic efficacy of a drug is directly related to its administration route. The pulmonary route can be accessed by inhalation after fumigation, vaporization or nebulization. Thus, pharmacological and toxicological evaluation accessed by an apparatus specifically designed and validated for this type of administration is extremely important. Based on pre-existing models, an inhalation chamber was developed. This presents a central structure with five animal holders. The nebulized air passes directly and continuously through these holders and subsequently to an outlet. Evaluation of its operation was performed using clove essential oil, a nebulizer, and a flow meter. The air within the chamber was collected by static headspace and analyzed by gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector. For this purpose, a 2.5 minutes chromatographic method was developed. The air flow in each of the five outputs was 0.92 liters per minute. During the first minute, the chamber became saturated with the nebulized material. Homogeneous and continuous operation of the chamber was observed without accumulation of volatile material inside it for 25 minutes. The inhalation chamber works satisfactorily for in vivo tests with medicines designed to be administrated by inhalation.

Lippia origanoides Kunth. Verbenaceae, is of great importance in the Brazilian traditional medicine. Because of it, this work had the purpose to contribute to the ethnopharmacological knowledge of L. origanoides through an ethnobotanical survey conducted within quilombola(maroon) communities of Oriximiná, Pará, Brazil. Among 254 plants cited in the survey, L. origanoides stood out among the ten most versatile species. The agreed main uses were to treat menstrual cramps, stomachache, and baby and postpartum colic. This could indicate a consensus of the informants to possible antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of L. origanoides.Therefore, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of L. origanoides extract (aerial parts) were assessed through thermal (hot plate) and chemical (formalin and acetic acid) models of nociception. A dose-dependent reduction in acetic acid-induced writhing was observed after treating mice with L. origanoidesextract. The same extract also inhibited significantly formalin-induced licking response and proved to have a central antinociceptive effect, in the hot plate test. This work demonstrates that L. origanoides is used specially by quilombola women from Oriximiná for disorders of the genitourinary system and that biological activities of this species could contribute to these uses. Furthermore, it was also observed antispasmodic, analgesic and antimicrobial uses of other species of the genus Lippia (Goniostachyum section), rich in thymol and carvacrol.

The municipality of Oriximiná, Brazil, has 33 quilombola communities in remote areas, endowed with wide experience in the use of medicinal plants. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in five of these communities. A free-listing method directed for the survey of species locally indicated against Tuberculosis and lung problems was also applied. Data were analyzed by quantitative techniques: saliency index and major use agreement. Thirty four informants related 254 ethnospecies. Among these, 43 were surveyed for possible antimycobacterial activity. As a result of those informations, ten species obtained from the ethnodirected approach (ETHNO) and eighteen species obtained from the random approach (RANDOM) were assayed against Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the microdilution method, using resazurin as an indicator of cell viability. The best results for antimycobacterial activity were obtained of some plants selected by the ethnopharmacological approach (50% ETHNO x 16,7% RANDOM). These results can be even more significant if we consider that the therapeutic success obtained among the quilombola practice is complex, being the use of some plants acting as fortifying agents, depurative, vomitory, purgative and bitter remedy, especially to infectious diseases, of great importance to the communities in the curing or recovering of health as a whole.

Lippia lacunosa e L. rotundifolia são duas espécies brasileiras que formam um complexo de difícil delimitação taxonômica. A composição química do óleo essencial das folhas e flores dessas plantas foi investigada por cromatografia com fase gasosa (CG) e por cromatografia com fase gasosa acoplada à espectrometria de massas (CG-EM). Principais constituintes dos óleos essenciais de L. lacunosa (flores e folhas): mirceno (14,7% e 11,9%), mircenona (45,2% e 64,2%), Z-ocimenona (5,7% e 5,2%), e E-ocimenona (14,7% e 4,1%), respectivamente; L. rotundifolia (flores e folhas): a-pineno (8,7% e 1,8%), mirceno (5,1% e 3,6%), limoneno (26,0% e 7,9 %), cis-pinocanfona (4,5% e 3,1%) e mirtenal (22,3% e 16,7%), respectivamente. Os óleos essenciais de L. lacunosa apresentaram um forte e agradável aroma de manga, que foi relacionado à presença de mirceno e mircenona. Diferenças fundamentais na composição química de seus óleos essenciais podem representar uma poderosa ferramenta na classificação botânica das espécies.

Lippia lacunosa and L. rotundifolia (Verbenaceae) are two Brazilian species of complex taxonomic delimitation. The composition of the essential oils from leaves and flowers of these plants was investigated by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The major components of the essential oils of flowers and leaves of L. lacunosa were: myrcene (14.7% and 11.9%), myrcenone (45.2% and 64.2%), Z-ocimenone (5.7% and 5.2%), and E-ocimenone (14.7% and 4.1%), respectively; whereas in L. rotundifolia (flowers and leaves) were a-pinene (8.7% and 1.8%), myrcene (5.1% and 3.6%), limonene (26.0% and 7.9 %), cis-pinocamphone (4.5% and 3.1%) and myrtenal (22.3% and 16.7%), respectively. The essential oils from L. lacunosa exhibited a strong and pleasant mango aroma, which was related to the presence of myrcene and myrcenone. The marked differences in the chemical composition of their essential oils may represent a powerful tool for the botanical classification.

Quarenta e oito extratos brutos etanólicos e frações (em hexano, diclorometano, acetato de etila e n-butanol) de dez plantas brasileiras pertencentes às famílias Leguminosae, Monimiaceae e Verbenaceae; uma da Costa Rica (Verbenaceae) e uma da Argentina (Verbenaceae) foram ensaiados para verificação da atividade anti-micobacteriana contra Mycobacterium tuberculosis (ATCC-27294H37Rv), pelo teste do Alamar Blue, a uma concentração fixa de 100 µg/mL. Dentre os quarenta e oito extratos e frações estudados, sete mostraram-se ativos na concentração ensaiada - frações em hexano e diclorometano de folhas de Lantana trifolia, extrato em metanol:água, 1:1 de cascas de Vitex cooperi, frações em hexano e diclorometano de folhas de Lippia lacunosa e de Lippia rotundifolia, sendoque todas essas plantas pertencem à família Verbenaceae.

Forty eight ethanolic crude extracts and fractions (hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and n-butanol) from ten Brazilian plants (Leguminosae, Monimiaceae and Verbenaceae), 1 from Costa Rica (Verbenaceae) and 1 from Argentina (Verbenaceae) were screened for anti-mycobacterium activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (ATCC-27294H37Rv), by the Alamar Blue test, at a fixed concentration of 100 µg/mL. Out of the forty eight, seven were active at this concentration, corresponding to Lantana trifolia (hexane and dichloromethane extracts from leaves), Vitex cooperi (methanol:water, 1:1 extract from barks), Lippia lacunosa (hexane and dichloromethane extracts from leaves) and Lippia rotundifolia (hexane and dichloromethane extracts from leaves), all from the Verbenaceae family.