Cytotoxic Evaluation of Aqueous Extracts Obtained from Two Brazilian Native Plant Species with Medicinal Potential, Casearia Sylvestris and Hyptis Lacustris

Brazil is home to a wide variety of plants species and, as such, represent a considerable source of new vegetal secondary metabolites with medicinal potential. Two examples of such species are Casearia sylvestris and Hyptis lacustris, which are native to the country and with the first already being used by some people in folk medicine and the later belonging to a genus containing other species with some health care utilities. However, it is important to assess the safety of the usage of products derived from them and thus a study about the cytotoxicity of aqueous extracts obtained from leaves of both species was performed. Extracts were obtained through the method of dried leaves decoction in water. The work was executed in vitro using Vero cells and the MTT viability assay method. It was observed that extracts from both plants did not present cytotoxicity potential in concentrations ≤ 1000 μg/ml. Therefore, further investigations may advance using this range of non-cytotoxic concentrations.