Researchers from Ceará universities discovered that lemon has specific natural compounds, capable of fighting Sars-Cov-2, the causative agent of Covid-19. The finding is part of a work by Victor Moreira de Oliveira, a graduate student in Chemistry, from the Faculty of Philosophy Dom Aureliano Matos, linked to the State University of Ceará (Fafidam/Uece), in Limoeiro do Norte, in partnership with the group of Theoretical Chemistry and Electrochemistry (GQTE).
The study was published internationally in 2021 and, this year, included in the World Health Organization database.
According to Victor Moreira de Oliveira, the study is initial and works as a screening for the possible development of medicines derived from limonoids, since the database has been made available to scholars around the world.
Of the eight limonoids analyzed, four showed promising activity:
- Calodendrolide
- Pedonine
- Harrisonine
- Dasacetylnimocinol
Despite the first step, it is necessary to continue the work to investigate new tools that enable the synthesis and characterization of new drugs.
Source: abrafrutas.org