ABSTRACT
The two species of (espinheira-santa) Maytenus aquifolium and Maytenus ilicifolia, which belong to the Celastraceae family, have been intensively explored in native populations, due to its medicinal potential. The great interest in the espinheira-santa is due to its effectiveness on the treatment of gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers. The antiulcerogenic effect is related to the presence of phenolic compounds, more specifically the tannins. This study aimed to compare the tannin doses between these two species grown in the Medicinal Garden of Bela Vista Biological Refuge - RBBV of Itaipu in the city of Foz do Iguaçu, PR - Brazil. Two trials were conducted with one month interval, for the quantification of the tannins by a spectrophotometry, according to the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia V. The results were analyzed through the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the difference in the tannins doses was demonstrated in a Tukey test at 5% level of significance employing the SISVAR software. It were found 0.61% of tannins for lot 1 and 2 of Maytenus aquifolium, and 3.90% for Maytenus ilicifolia, which represents 84.35% more tannin at Maytenus ilicifolia than at Maytenus aquifolium. Therefore, the species should not be interchanged.
Keywords
Epinheira santa; gastritis treatment; total polyphenols; spectrophotometric analysis
