PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL QUALITY CONTROL OF PASSIFLORA EDULIS SIMS SAMPLES SOLD IN SANTOS/SP Gabriela Negrão Vilaronga, Gabriela Rodrigues Ribeiro, Gabrielle Santos de Souza Silva, José Eduardo Pandini Cardoso Filho

Abstract

Passiflora has several medicinal properties, acting as an antioxidant, facilitating the reduction of anxiety and stress and inducing sleep. Therefore, the use of Passiflora is on the rise, being increasingly consumed in various forms. Among the pharmacological activities attributed to the compounds present in Passiflora extracts, the following stand out: anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antioxidant and relaxing activity. The objective of this study is to analyze the characteristics and phytochemical aspects of Passiflora edulis Sims, belonging to the Passifloraceae family, popularly known as passion fruit. The physicochemical analysis of Passiflora edulis Sims, with the performance of some methods, such as the determination of foreign material, determination of moisture content, total ash and acid insolubles, was performed in order to compare whether the evaluated samples are in accordance with the parameters determined by the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia. In this context, the importance of performing physical-chemical quality control is mainly due to the possibility of finding foreign materials above the recommended levels. In addition, samples with high moisture content are more susceptible to the development of microorganisms, resulting in deterioration of the drug's constituents, hydrolysis and the appearance of insects. The high amount of total ash indicates the presence of non-volatile inorganic matter in the sample, such as sand and soil. Three samples from different manufacturers, coded as X, Y and Z, were investigated. The results obtained in the analyses indicate values ​​outside the reference for all parameters in all the samples investigated, indicating a failure in the quality control of the teas sold in the city of Santos/SP.