Abstract

Ugni molinae Turcz. is found as a wild shrub along the Chilean southern lands. Its edible berries have been appreciated by locals due to their alimentary value. Folk medicine has considered its leaves for their use to treat different types of pain. This was substantiated by our previous pharmacological studies, which also demonstrated that its leaves represent an important source of pentacyclic triterpenoids. Given the relevance of these findings and an observed pharmacological activity of a leaves ethanol extract (EET), we decided to supplement these studies looking for in vivo anti-inflammatory triterpenoids thus complementing the knowledge about the composition of the leaves of U. molinae. Madecassic acid is here reported for the first time for this species and also among Myrtaceae. It was isolated from EET and identified by using spectroscopic techniques, HPLC-ESI-MS/MS and comparative literature studies. The anti-inflammatory activity of EET and MA was evaluated by means of the TPA-induced mouse ear edema model. Observing 60.5 ± 3.3% of effect for the EET and a dose dependent effect for MA with a maximum effect of 69.8 ± 6.5% at 0.7 nmol/ear, comparable to 71.7 ± 11.3%, produced by the same dose of indomethacin. These results allow us to demonstrate the contribution of MA over the anti-inflammatory activity of EET obtained from U. molinae.