Evaluation of Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Pseudananas macrodontes (Morr.) Harms (Bromeliaceae) Fruit Extract in Rats

Abstract

Several species of the family Bromeliaceae are characterized by the production of proteases in unusual amounts, especially in fruits. Bromelain, an extract rich in cysteine endo-peptidases obtained from Ananas comosus L., and a few other proteases have been used as anti-infl ammatory agents for some years, but bromelain is still mainly being used as alternative and/or complementary therapy to the treatment with glucocorticoids, nonsteroi-dal antirheumatics, and immunomodulators. In this study, the anti-infl ammatory action of a partially purifi ed extract from Pseudananas macrodontes (Morr.) Harms fruits (PPEPm) is presented, whose main components are cysteine endopeptidases. The effect of PPEPm was assessed in carrageenan-induced and serotonin-induced rat paw edema, as well as in the cotton pellet granuloma model. Doses with equal proteolytic activity of PPEPm and bromelain produced signifi cantly similar anti-infl ammatory responses in the acute infl ammatory models assayed, supporting the hypothesis that proteolytic activity could be responsible for the anti-infl ammatory action. On the contrary, comparable anti-infl ammatory effects of PPEPm and bromelain in the chronic infl ammatory assay required a much lower proteolytic activity content of PPEPm, which could be due to a differential affi nity for the protein target involved in this process.