Conservadorismo químico em Adelphobates galactonotus (Anura: Dendrobatidae): cor, distância geográfica ou barreiras aquáticas não influenciam a diversidade das classes químicas da pele

Abstract

Dendrobatidae anurans presenting bright colors, contrasting with the environment use those colors to alert their unpalatability to possible predators. Variations on secondary metabolites in their skin have been reported and described, with most studies focusing on alkaloids. In this study, we determined the potential chemical classes present in dichloromethane/methanol (DCM/MeOH) cutaneous secretion extracts from three A. galactonotus morphotypes: brown, orange and lime-green; as well as determined whether geographical distances and the Xingu river play important roles in chemical profile variations of that species. We used Thin Layer Chromatography with different reagents to determine potential types of substances by their chemical classes. The samples were submitted to 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to assess chemical profile. To show similarities and / or differences between chemical profiles of samples, we used multivariate Principal Component Analysis (PCA) / Fuzzy and hierarchical cluster analysis. We found the presence of terpenes, steroids and alkaloids. PCA / Fuzzy analysis revealed differences in the amount of substances in the metabolite profiles of extracts, dividing them into two groupswhich did not differ by color morphotype. Our results showed that chemical composition of cutaneous secretions in A. galactonotus does not suffer geographical distance or water barrier effects.