• CELLMED
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.28.1-28.7
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• 2013

Careya arborea Roxb. (Lecythidaceae) is a significant medicinal plant known as kumbhi in Ayurveda. Though, most of the plant parts are used in traditional systems of medicine, bark and leaves constitute the important medicinal parts. The present review gives an account of the updated information on its phytochemical and pharmacological properties. The review reveals that numerous phytochemical constituents have been isolated from the plant possessing hepatoprotective, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticoagulant, analgesic, antidiarrhoeal and various other important activities. Leaves are used in filaria, colic, loose motions and ulcers. Bark is used as an antipyretic, abortifacient, antipruritic and in smallpox, urinary discharges and rheumatic pain. Since last few decades, extensive exploration has been done to establish the biological activities and pharmacology of the extracts and plentiful chemical constituents including flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, terpenoids and many other have been isolated.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.115-119
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• 2014

The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa - Lecythidaceae) is considered a product with high economic value, being a food widely appreciated for its nutritional qualities. Although previous studies have reported the biochemical composition of Brazil nut oil, the knowledge regarding the phospholipid composition exhibits a disagreement: the composition of fatty acids present in the structures of phospholipids is reported as being different from the composition of the free fatty acids present in the oil. In this work, solid phase extraction (SPE) was employed to provide a fast extraction of the phospholipids from Brazil nuts, in order to compare the phospholipid profile of the in nature nuts and their fatty acids precursor present in the oil. The major phospholipids were characterized by mass spectrometry approach. Their fragmentation pattern through direct infusion electrospray ionization ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry ($ESI-IT-MS^2$) proved to be useful to unequivocal characterization of these substances. High resolution (HR) experiments through ESI using a quadruple time of flight mass spectrometry (QTOF) system were performed to reinforce the identifications.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.200-205
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• 2009

The n-hexane and carbon tetrachloride soluble fractions of a methanolic extract of the stem bark of the Couroupita guianensis furnished three compounds, identified as $\beta$-amyrin (1), betulin-$3{\beta}$-caffeate (2) and lupeol-$3{\beta}$-caffeate (3). The structures of the isolated compounds were deduced by extensive spectroscopic analysis as well as by comparison with published values. Compounds 1-3 were subjected to antioxidant screening through free radical scavenging activity by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl), where compound 2 showed moderate antioxidant activity with $IC_{50}$ value $108.0{\mu}g/ml$.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.274-279
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• 2021

The therapeutic effects of the leaves of Couroupita guianensis, a large tropical tree in the family of Lecythidaceae improving testosterone-induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) were tested in vitro and in vivo. In BPH rats induced by castration and testosterone treatment, the prostate index was improved in groups administered with the extracts of C. guianensis extracted with 50%-, 100%-ethanol or boiling water, which was comparable with positive control, finasteride. The extract C. guianensis leaves showed significant inhibition on the expressions of type 2 5-alpha reductase (5αR) in RWPE-1 human prostatic epithelial cells, and effectively attenuated the expressions of androgen receptor, type 2 5αR and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in LNCap human prostatic adenocarcinoma cells. The leaves of C. guianensis that exerted evident suppression on BPH-related biomarkers in vitro and improvement of prostate index in vivo has a potential therapeutic use for the treatment of BPH.