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Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in South America
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Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in South America

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2023) | Viewed by 18664

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Valdir Veiga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chemistry Section, Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME), Rio de Janeiro 22270-290, Brazil
Interests: medicinal plants; microorganisms; drugs; functional foods; cosmetics; biorefinery; platform molecules; bioactive
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. André Luís Dias Araujo Mazzari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, University College London 29-39 Brunswick Square, WC1N1AX, London, UK
Interests: herb-drug interactions; herbal medicines; glutathione; CYP3A4; p-glycoprotein; drug metabolism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Brazilian biodiversity is one of the widest on the planet. It is distributed in different biomes, such as the Amazon, Pampa, Pantanal, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado (the most diverse savanna in the world), in addition to the immense area of the so-called Blue Amazon—the Atlantic Ocean area, reaching 5.7 million square kilometers. The Atlantic Forest alone has 20,000 plant species, about 35% of those existing in the country. This diversity is greater than all of North America (17,000) or Europe (12,500).

In addition, the country has a well-established scientific community that studies from medicinal plants to microorganisms, and natural products from marine, terrestrial and freshwater environments.

This upcoming Special Issue of Plants will provide a comprehensive understanding of the state of the art of natural products in Brazil, a particularly interesting area in research on foods, drugs, energy, perfumes, cosmetics, platform molecules, among many others.

Prof. Dr. Valdir Veiga
Dr. André Luís Dias Araujo Mazzari
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • amazonia
  • medicinal plants
  • microorganisms
  • drugs
  • functional foods
  • cosmetics
  • biorefinery
  • platform molecules
  • bioactive

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 5176 KiB  
Article
Edible Fruits from the Ecuadorian Amazon: Ethnobotany, Physicochemical Characteristics, and Bioactive Components
by Maritza Sánchez-Capa, Mireia Corell González and Carlos Mestanza-Ramón
Plants 2023, 12(20), 3635; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12203635 - 21 Oct 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3142
Abstract
In the Ecuadorian Amazon region, there are various types of edible fruits that have distinct qualities and benefits. Understanding the uses, properties, and functions of these fruits is important for researching products that are only available in local markets. This review aims to [...] Read more.
In the Ecuadorian Amazon region, there are various types of edible fruits that have distinct qualities and benefits. Understanding the uses, properties, and functions of these fruits is important for researching products that are only available in local markets. This review aims to gather and summarize the existing scientific literature on the ethnobotany, physicochemical composition, and bioactive compounds of these native fruits to highlight the potential of the region’s underutilized biodiversity. A systematic review was carried out following the PRISMA methodology, utilizing databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed, Redalyc, and SciELO up to August 2023. The research identified 55 edible fruits from the Ecuadorian Amazon and reported their ethnobotanical information. The most common uses were fresh fruit consumption, preparation of typical food, and medicine. Additionally, nine native edible fruits were described for their physicochemical characteristics and bioactive components: Aphandra natalia (Balslev and Henderson) Barfod; Eugenia stipitate McVaugh; Gustavia macarenensis Philipson; Mauritia flexuosa L.f; Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) McVaugh; Oenocarpus bataua Mart; Plukenetia volubilis L.; Pouteria caimito (Ruiz and Pav.) Radlk.; and Solanum quitoense Lam. The analyzed Amazonian fruits contained bioactive compounds such as total polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. This information highlights their potential as functional foods and the need for further research on underutilized crops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in South America)
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18 pages, 1396 KiB  
Article
Convective Drying of Purple Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Leaves and Stability of Chlorophyll and Phenolic Compounds during the Process
by Rosane Patricia Ferreira Chaves, Adriano Lucena de Araújo, Alessandra Santos Lopes and Rosinelson da Silva Pena
Plants 2023, 12(1), 127; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12010127 - 27 Dec 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2787
Abstract
This study evaluated the effect of convective drying on the degradation of color and phenolic compounds of purple basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) leaves, and the hygroscopic behavior of dried leaves. The fresh leaves underwent drying at 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C, and [...] Read more.
This study evaluated the effect of convective drying on the degradation of color and phenolic compounds of purple basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) leaves, and the hygroscopic behavior of dried leaves. The fresh leaves underwent drying at 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C, and 70 °C. Degradation of chlorophyll, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds were evaluated during drying and the hygroscopicity was evaluated through the moisture sorption isotherms. The drying mathematical modeling and the moisture sorption data were performed. The effective diffusivity for the drying increased from 4.93 × 10−10 m2/s at 40 °C to 18.96 × 10−10 m2/s at 70 °C, and the activation energy value (39.30 kJ/mol) showed that the leaves present temperature sensibility. The leaves dried at 40 °C had less degradation of phenolic compounds and color variation, but the drying process was too slow for practical purposes. Modified Page, Diffusion Approximation, and Verna models had excellent accuracy in drying kinetics. The isotherms showed that, in environments with relative humidity above 50%, the purple basil leaves are more susceptible to water gain, and at 8.83 g H2O/100 g db moisture, it guarantees the microbiological stability of the dried leaves. The Oswin model was the most suitable for estimating the moisture sorption isotherms of the dried leaves. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in South America)
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10 pages, 1014 KiB  
Article
Chemical and Biological Evaluation of Amazonian Medicinal Plant Vouacapoua americana Aubl
by Serhat Sezai Çiçek, Anna Laís Pfeifer Barbosa, Arlette Wenzel-Storjohann, Jorge Federico Orellana Segovia, Roberto Messias Bezerra, Frank Sönnichsen, Christian Zidorn, Isamu Kanzaki and Deniz Tasdemir
Plants 2023, 12(1), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12010099 - 25 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2476
Abstract
Vouacapoua americana (Fabaceae) is an economically important tree in the Amazon region and used for its highly resistant heartwood as well as for medicinal purposes. Despite its frequent use, phytochemical investigations have been limited and rather focused on ecological properties than on its [...] Read more.
Vouacapoua americana (Fabaceae) is an economically important tree in the Amazon region and used for its highly resistant heartwood as well as for medicinal purposes. Despite its frequent use, phytochemical investigations have been limited and rather focused on ecological properties than on its pharmacological potential. In this study, we investigated the phytochemistry and bioactivity of V. americana stem bark extract and its constituents to identify eventual lead structures for further drug development. Applying hydrodistillation and subsequent GC-MS analysis, we investigated the composition of the essential oil and identified the 15 most abundant components. Moreover, the diterpenoids deacetylchagresnone (1), cassa-13(14),15-dien-oic acid (2), isoneocaesalpin H (3), (+)-vouacapenic acid (4), and (+)-methyl vouacapenate (5) were isolated from the stem bark, with compounds 2 and 4 showing pronounced effects on Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium, respectively. During the structure elucidation of deacetylchagresnone (1), which was isolated from a natural source for the first time, we detected inconsistencies regarding the configuration of the cyclopropane ring. Thus, the structure was revised for both deacetylchagresnone (1) and the previously isolated chagresnone. Following our works on Copaifera reticulata and Vatairea guianensis, the results of this study further contribute to the knowledge of Amazonian medicinal plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in South America)
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Review

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17 pages, 914 KiB  
Review
Toxicological Effects of Copaiba Oil (Copaifera spp.) and Its Active Components
by Camila Castanho Cardinelli, Josiane Elizabeth Almeida e Silva, Rayssa Ribeiro, Valdir F. Veiga-Junior, Elisabete Pereira dos Santos and Zaida Maria Faria de Freitas
Plants 2023, 12(5), 1054; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12051054 - 27 Feb 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3796
Abstract
Vegetable oils are among the most important traditional resources of Amazonia. Oleoresins are a type of oil that have interesting characteristics and highly bioactive properties with pharmacological potential. Oleoresins produced in the trunks of Copaifera (Fabaceae) spp. trees, known as copaiba oils, are [...] Read more.
Vegetable oils are among the most important traditional resources of Amazonia. Oleoresins are a type of oil that have interesting characteristics and highly bioactive properties with pharmacological potential. Oleoresins produced in the trunks of Copaifera (Fabaceae) spp. trees, known as copaiba oils, are made up of terpenes from the sesquiterpene (volatile) and diterpene (resinous) classes, but in amounts that vary between species and depending on several factors, such as soil type. Despite being used for medicinal purposes, via topical and oral application, the toxic effects of copaiba oils and their constituents are little known. The current paper reviews the toxicological studies, both in vitro and in vivo, described in the literature for copaiba oils, as well as the cytotoxic characteristics (against microorganisms and tumor cells) in in silico, in vitro and in vivo models for the sesquiterpenes and diterpenes that make up these oils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in South America)
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Graphical abstract

18 pages, 406 KiB  
Review
Potential Pharmacokinetic Interactions of Common Cardiovascular Drugs and Selected European and Latin American Herbal Medicines: A Scoping Review
by Jose M. Prieto-Garcia, Louise Graham, Osamah Alkhabbaz and Andre L. D. A. Mazzari
Plants 2023, 12(3), 623; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030623 - 31 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5055
Abstract
Background: Herb–drug interactions are nowadays an important decision factor in many healthcare interventions. Patients with cardiovascular risk factors such as hyperlipidemia and hypertension are usually prescribed long-term treatments. We need more informed decision tools to direct future clinical research and decision making to [...] Read more.
Background: Herb–drug interactions are nowadays an important decision factor in many healthcare interventions. Patients with cardiovascular risk factors such as hyperlipidemia and hypertension are usually prescribed long-term treatments. We need more informed decision tools to direct future clinical research and decision making to avoid HDI occurrences in this group. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using data from online databases such as PUBMED, the National Library of Medicine, and the electronic Medicines Compendium. Included studies consisted of the reported effects on Phase 1/2 and P-glycoprotein of herbal medicines listed in the medicines agencies of Latin America and Europe and drugs used for cardiovascular conditions (statins, diuretics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and ACE inhibitors). The cross tabulation of the results allowed for finding potential HDI. Results and conclusions: as per the preclinical data reviewed here, we encourage more clinical research on whether drugs with apparently very low interaction risk, such as pravastatin, nadolol, and nimodipine/nitrendipine, may help prevent HDI when statins, beta blockers, and calcium channel blockers, respectively, are prescribed for long-term treatments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in South America)
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