Bioprospection of Caatinga plants with potential for phytomedicine production

• Autor(a) principal: Souza, Ana Valéria
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Hernandes, Camila, Souza, Danilo Diego de, Costa, Evelyn Sophia Silva, Bispo, Luma dos Passos, Oliveira, Flávio José Vieira de, Pereira, Ana Maria Soares
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Fitos
• Texto Completo: https://revistafitos.far.fiocruz.br/index.php/revista-fitos/article/view/1283
• topic: Medicinal plant; Herbal; Lippia grata; Lippia schaueriana; Croton conduplicatus; Planta medicinal; fitoterápicos; Lippia grata; Lippia schaueriana; Croton conduplicatus

The Caatinga is an exclusively Brazilian biome that has an expressive number of plants with medicinal and aromatic potential in its domain. However, little is known about these native species. The objective of this work was to identify native plants of the Caatinga with medicinal potential and to initiate studies aimed at the domestication of those species identified as promising for the production of phytomedicines. For this, surveys and identifications of medicinal plants used by the population in the Territory of Sertão do São Francisco, in the Pernambuco and Bahia states, were carried out. From this survey, aromatic and essential oil producing species were selected for the analysis of chemical composition, antimicrobial activity tests and pharmacological tests and propagation and cultivation studies. So far, research in these areas has advanced to five species, in different stages - Lippia grata Schauer (Verbenaceae), Lippia schaueriana Mart. ex Schauer (Verbenaceae), Croton conduplicatus Kunth (Euphorbiaceae), Croton sonderianus Müll.Arg. (Euphorbiaceae) and Croton campestris A.St.-Hil. (Euphorbiaceae). However, essential oil extraction and phytochemical analysis were performed for all species collected. Results revealed that the essential oils of these species present contents of major compounds with therapeutic activity and, therefore, these can be interesting for the phytomedicines production.