Formas de propagação de espécies de uso medicinal popular em cinco municípios do estado do Amazonas

This work was carried out in five counties of Amazon State, Brazil, along the Solimoes/Amazonas and Negro Rivers. The objective was to identify the several forms of natural and induced propagation with medicinal plants, natives and exotics. The peoples were interviewed, with visit and recollection of botanical materials to herborization and reproduction. The greatest parts of plants propagate by seeds (65,8 per cent) and cutting (23,5 per cent). It was showed several species that reproduce by other strategies, like bulbs, rhizomes or brotations. The Amazonian species, in general, propagate by seeds, with some exceptions.

Free radical scavenging profile and myeloperoxidase inhibition of extracts from antidiabetic plants: Bauhinia forficata and Cissus sicyoides

There is abundant evidence that reactive oxygen species are implicated in several physiological and pathological processes. To protect biological targets from oxidative damage. antioxidants must react with radicals and other reactive species faster than biological substrates do. The aim of the present study was to determine the in vitro antioxidant activity of aqueous extracts from leaves of Bauhinia forficata Link (Fabaceae - Caesalpinioideae) and Cissus sicyoides L. (Vitaceae) (two medicinal plants used popularly in the control of diabetes mellitus), using several different assay systems, namely, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) decolorization. superoxide anion radical (O-2 center dot-) scavenging and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. In the ABTS assay for total antioxidant activity, B. forficata showed IC50 8.00 +/- 0.07 mu g/mL, while C. sicyoides showed IC50 13.0 +/- 0.2 mu g/mL. However, the extract of C. sicyoides had a stronger effect on O-2 center dot- (IC50 60.0 +/- 2.3 mu p/mL) than the extract of B. forficata (IC50 90.0 +/- 4.4 mu g/mL). B. forficata also had a stronger inhibitory effect on MPO activity, as measured by guaiacol oxidation, than C. sicyoides. These results indicate that aqueous extracts of leaves of B. forficata and C. sicyoides are a potential source of natural antioxidants and may be helpful in the prevention of diabetic complications associated with oxidative stress.

Antibacterial activity of medicinal plant extracts

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

In vitro antibacterial activity of medicinal plant extracts against Escherichia coli strains from human clinical specimens and interactions with antimicrobial drugs

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Qualea grandiflora, a Brazilian Cerrado medicinal plant presents an important antiulcer activity

Qualea grandiflora is one of the species widely used in folk medicine to treat gastric ulcers in Cerrado of the central region of Brazil. The hydroalcoholic extract of bark (HE) of Qualea grandiflora was investigated for their ability to prevent and heal lesions in the gastric mucosa. The oral administration of HE exhibited antiulcer activity decreasing the ulcerative index induced by HCl/ethanol solution, indomethacin/bethanechol and stress. In the Shay model, results showed that HE (p.o.) only reduced the severity of gastric lesions without effects on pH, gastric acidity or volume. When given by intraduodenal route, HE changed the pH, but did not modify the other parameters of the gastric juice. These data were in accordance with those obtained when HE was administered orally for 14 days after gastric ulcers were induced by acetic acid in rats. HE presented healing process in subacute gastric ulcer induced by acetic acid in rats. Moreover, histological examinations showed the simple columnar epithelium, lamina propria with simple branched tubular glandules with dilated lumen and large amounts of mucus secretion. Phytochemical investigation of HE led to the detection of terpenes, steroids, saponins, phenolic compounds and tannins in this extract, which may be involved in the observed activity. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Antimicrobial activity of essential oils from plants used in Brazilian popular medicine

Essential oils from, Salvia officinalis L. (SO), Mentha sylvestris L. (MS), Casearia sylvestris Sw. (CS), Mentha piperita L. (MP), Ocimum micrantum Willd. (OM) and Mentha arvensis L. (MA), plants used in Brazilian popular medicine were extracted using method I, as described in the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia, in order to obtain the phytochemical profile and to evaluate their antimicrobial activity against the following microorganisms: Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens, Candida albicans and Aspergilus oryzae. Test was made by means of the disk-plaque diffusion test in liquid medium using 1% essential oil. In the disk-plaque diffusion test, all the essential oils exhibited activity against B. subtilis, but OM showed the greatest inhibition zone and was the only one to show activity against S. aureus. Samples of SO, MS, MP, OM and MA were active against M. luteus, E. coli and S. marcescens, while A. oryzae was sensitive to MS, MP, OM and MA. No sample, however, was active against C. albicans. In the liquid medium test, significant results were observed for OM and MA, which inhibited the growth of all microorganisms for 24 hours, and OM continued active against E. coli and A. oryzae until the last reading.

Espécies de uso medicinal popular nativas e introduzidas cultivadas em cinco municípios do estado do amazonas

The objective if this work was a survey of medicinal plants plus commonly cultivated in quintais in Amazon State, Brazil. The work was carried out in five counties at the Solimões/Amazonas and Negro Rivers, by questionnaires, interviews and collections of botanical materials, using the literature to define the geographic origins. It was showed 105 species of medicinal plants, with average of 13 per house. The Amazonian plants, in general wood plants, meaning 10,9 percent of the total of species that was survey, with predominance of the American continent plants out of Amazonian (38,2 per cent). The major group was herbaceous or shrubs exotic plants, aromatics. In general, the peoples unknown the origin of the species of medicinal plants that use day after day.

Absence of mutagenicity of plants used to treat gastrointestinal disorders

The Brazilian Savanna (locally called Cerrado) is an important biome presenting several plants that are used in popular medicine. However, the risks associated with the consumption of derivatives from these plants are generally unknown. Studies with compounds obtained from different species have shown the risks of DNA damage. The present work assessed the in vivo mutagenicity of three plant species used in popular medicine to treat human gastrointestinal disorders (Mouriri pusa, Qualea grandiflora and Qualea multiflora). The micronucleus assay was performed in peripheral blood of mice submitted to acute treatments. Results showed that no assessed extracts were mutagenic in vivo. In fact, the absence of mutagenicity in the present study indicates that the extracts do not contain compounds capable of inducing DNA breaks or chromosomal loss. However, further analysis should be performed in others systems to guarantee their safety, mainly to human chronic use.

Comparison of Brazilian plants used to treat gastritis on the oxidative burst of helicobacter pylori -stimulated neutrophil

Ten Brazilian medicinal plants used to treat gastritis and ulcers were carefully selected on the basis of ethnopharmacological importance and antiulcerogenic activity previously described. The antioxidant activity of the methanolic extracts was determined in analysis conditions that simulate a real biological activity on inhibition of the oxidative burst induced in neutrophils using Helicobacter pylori as activator, by a luminol-amplified chemiluminescence assay. The extracts, at low concentration (5 g/mL), exhibited a large variation in inhibitory effects of H. pylori-induced oxidative burst ranging from 48% inhibition to inactive, but all extracts, excluding Byrsonima intermedia, had inhibitory activity over 80% at the concentration of 100 g/mL. The total suppressive antioxidant capacity measured as the effective concentration, which represents the extract concentration producing 50% inhibition of the chemiluminescence induced by H. pylori, varies from 27.2 to 56.8 g/mL and was in the following order: Qualea parviflora > Qualea multiflora > Alchornea triplinervia > Qualea grandiflora > Anacardium humile > Davilla elliptica > Mouriri pusa > Byrsonima basiloba > Alchornea glandulosa > Byrsonima intermedia. The main groups of compounds in tested extracts are presented. Differences in the phytochemical profile, quantitatively and qualitatively, of these plants can explain and justify their protective effect on the gastric mucosa caused by the neutrophil-generated ROS that occurs when H. pylori displays its evasion mechanisms. © 2013 Cibele Bonacorsi et al.

Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus (Gomes) L. R. Landrum (Myrtaceae): stem and leaf anatomy of a medicinal plant

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico(CNPq)

Use of anatomical, chemical, and molecular genetic characteristics in the quality control of medicinal species: a case study of sarsaparilla (Smilax spp.)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Chemistry and pharmacology of some plants mentioned in the letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha

Brazil has a long tradition in the study of medicinal plants. When the Portuguese arrived to the new colony, Pero Vaz de Caminha, the scriber of the fleet, left the first impressions of the local and the inhabitants. He clearly mentions how the Indians use natural dye as tincture to paint their bodies. This article reviews the phytochemical and pharmacological characteristics of these colorants and other medicinal plants recently identified mentioned in this letter.

Transformation of local medicinal knowledge in the Andean Highlands: Case studies from Peru and Bolivia

In the Andean highlands, indigenous environmental knowledge is currently undergoing major changes as a result of various external and internal factors. As in other parts of the world, an overall process of erosion of local knowledge can be observed. In response to this trend, some initiatives that adopt a biocultural approach aim at actively strengthening local identities and revalorizing indigenous environmental knowledge and practices, assuming that such practices can contribute to more sustainable management of biodiversity. However, these initiatives usually lack a sound research basis, as few studies have focused on the dynamics of indigenous environmental knowledge in the Andes and on its links with biodiversity management. Against this background, the general objective of this research project was to contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of indigenous environmental knowledge in the Andean highlands of Peru and Bolivia by investigating how local medicinal knowledge is socially differentiated within rural communities, how it is transformed, and which external and internal factors influence these transformation processes. The project adopted an actor-oriented perspective and emphasized the concept of knowledge dialogue by analyzing the integration of traditional and formal medicinal systems within family therapeutic strategies. It also aimed at grasping some of the links between the dynamics of medicinal knowledge and the types of land use systems and biodiversity management. Research was conducted in two case study areas of the Andes, both Quechua-speaking and situated in comparable agro-ecological production belts - Pitumarca District, Department of Cusco (Southern Peruvian Highlands) and the Tunari National Park, Department of Cochabamba (Bolivian inner-Andean valleys). In each case study area, the land use systems and strategies of 18 families from two rural communities, their environmental knowledge related to medicine and to the local therapeutic flora, and an appreciation of the dynamics of this knowledge were assessed. Data were collected through a combination of disciplinary and participatory action-research methods. It was mostly analyzed using qualitative methods, though some quantitative ethnobotanical methods were also used. In both case studies, traditional medicine still constitutes the preferred option for the families interviewed, independently of their age, education level, economic status, religion, or migration status. Surprisingly and contrary to general assertions among local NGOs and researchers, results show that there is a revival of Andean medicine within the younger generation, who have greater knowledge of medicinal plants than the previous one, value this knowledge as an important element of their way of life and relationship with “Mother Earth” (Pachamama), and, at least in the Bolivian case, prefer to consult the traditional healer rather than go to the health post. Migration to the urban centres and the Amazon lowlands, commonly thought to be an important factor of local medicinal knowledge loss, only affects people’s knowledge in the case of families who migrate over half of the year or permanently. Migration does not influence the knowledge of medicinal plants or the therapeutic strategies of families who migrate temporarily for shorter periods of time. Finally, economic status influences neither the status of people’s medicinal knowledge, nor families’ therapeutic strategies, even though the financial factor is often mentioned by practitioners and local people as the main reason for not using the formal health system. The influence of the formal health system on traditional medicinal knowledge varies in each case study area. In the Bolivian case, where it was only introduced in the 1990s and access to it is still very limited, the main impact was to give local communities access to contraceptive methods and to vaccination. In the Peruvian case, the formal system had a much greater impact on families’ health practices, due to local and national policies that, for instance, practically prohibit some traditional practices such as home birth. But in both cases, biomedicine is not considered capable of responding to cultural illnesses such as “fear” (susto), “bad air” (malviento), or “anger” (colerina). As a consequence, Andean farmers integrate the traditional medicinal system and the formal one within their multiple therapeutic strategies, reflecting an inter-ontological dialogue between different conceptions of health and illness. These findings reflect a more general trend in the Andes, where indigenous communities are currently actively revalorizing their knowledge and taking up traditional practices, thus strengthening their indigenous collective identities in a process of cultural resistance.

Synergy in a medicinal plant: Antimicrobial action of berberine potentiated by 5′-methoxyhydnocarpin, a multidrug pump inhibitor

Multidrug resistance pumps (MDRs) protect microbial cells from both synthetic and natural antimicrobials. Amphipathic cations are preferred substrates of MDRs. Berberine alkaloids, which are cationic antimicrobials produced by a variety of plants, are readily extruded by MDRs. Several Berberis medicinal plants producing berberine were found also to synthesize an inhibitor of the NorA MDR pump of a human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. The inhibitor was identified as 5′-methoxyhydnocarpin (5′-MHC), previously reported as a minor component of chaulmoogra oil, a traditional therapy for leprosy. 5′-MHC is an amphipathic weak acid and is distinctly different from the cationic substrates of NorA. 5′-MHC had no antimicrobial activity alone but strongly potentiated the action of berberine and other NorA substrates against S. aureus. MDR-dependent efflux of ethidium bromide and berberine from S. aureus cells was completely inhibited by 5′-MHC. The level of accumulation of berberine in the cells was increased strongly in the presence of 5′-MHC, indicating that this plant compound effectively disabled the bacterial resistance mechanism against the berberine antimicrobial.

American medicinal barks /

"Issued June 5, 1909."