Biological and enzymatic activities of aqueous extract of seeds from Caesalpinia ferrea Mart., Leguminosae.

Biological and enzymatic activities of aqueous extract of seeds from Caesalpinia ferrea Mart.; Leguminosae. Caesalpinia ferrea Mart. is a species belonging to,Leguminosae family commonly known in Brazil as juca or pau-ferro. It occurs in Brazil from the Northeast. Region to the State, of Rio de Janeiro and it is widely utilized in folk medicine due to its several therapeutic properties such as anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial and antithermic, which indicate the presence of Compounds of pharmacological interest., Besides, many studies with plants look for the presence of compounds with industrial applications. Based upon the therapeutic, and bioactive propertied described for this species so far, this work aimed to investigate several biological activities in the water extract of C. ferrea seeds. The results indicated the presence of the following activities: cellulase, amylase,, anticoagulant And larvicide against A. aegypti in the water extract of C. ferrea seeds. Nevertheless, the extract did not show the other activities assayed: Acute toxic activity, hemolytic, heparinasic, antibacterial and antifungal activities.