Reduction of the toxic effect of mercurium chloride by chelating effect of Psidium brownianum Mart. ex DC.

- The EPB have an allelopathic effect in relation to lettuce seed.
- The extract of Psidium brownianum presents no cytoprotective activity in bacteria.
- The EPB present antioxidative and iron-chelating effect.
- The extract of Psidium brownianum presents a cytoprotective effect in the plant model.

Mercury is a heavy metal that does not present any biological function and is considered toxic since it offers great environmental contamination risks to human beings. Psidium brawnianum is a plant found in the town of Araripe, in the Ceará State of Brazil, and is commonly known as “araçá de veado” - guava tree. The current study has the aim to determine the cytoprotective and metal chelating effect of P. brownianum extract. The results show that the tested HgCl2 concentrations damage the germination and development of Lactuta sativa (lettuce) seeds. However, when sub-allelopathic concentrations (128 μg/mL) of the extract are used in association with HgCl2, a cytoprotective effect can be observed in assayed bacterial and plant models which correlated to metal chelation by phyrocompounds from the extract. Thus, the current study shows that this plant may be an interesting source of products against the heavy metal toxicity problem and contamination.

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