Review Article
    Pharmacognosy Reviews
    Vol. 3
    Issue 5
    2009
    pp. 48-72
    Open Access

    Preliminary Ethnopharmacological Survey of Plants Used in Mexico for the Treatment of Hypertension

    Patricia Castillo-España1,Alba Cisneros-Estrada1,Ma. Luisa Garduño-Ramírez2,Oswaldo Hernández-Abreu3,Rolando Ramírez4,Samuel Estrada-Soto3
    1Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología.
    2Centro de Investigaciones Químicas.
    3Facultad de Farmacia , MEXICO.
    4Centro de Educación Ambiental e Investigación de la Sierra de Huautla, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Avenida Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, MEXICO.
    Correspondence:

    *Samuel Estrada-Soto

    Facultad de Farmacia , MEXICO.

    enoch@uaem.mx

    Copyright:

    2009 Author(s)

    Published:18/01/2009

    Abstract

    Traditional Mexican medicine is one of the most important health systems in the world, among Chinese and Indian systems. Furthermore, medicinal plants play an important role in these systems. Investigation of medicinal plants allowed the isolation of several active compounds that have been used as leads for the developing of several therapeutic agents. In this context, from our continuous effort for the investigation of Mexican medicinal plants from different point of views, in this opportunity we are reporting a preliminary ethnopharmacologic, chemical and pharmacological survey of 186 plant species used in Mexico for the treatment of hypertension. From these, it was registered a total of 163 genera and 76 families and is important to mention that the most abundant were Asteraceae (17), Lamiaceae (12), Solanaceae (11), Fabaceae (10) and Rutaceae (8). Moreover, 85 were wild type. To the best of our knowledge, 47% of the total was studied at least once from phytochemical point of view and 74% were subjected to investigation of in vitro and in vivo pharmacological assays. These last investigations were carried out in order to validate their medicinal uses as antihypertensive agents in the Mexican traditional medicine.

    Share on Mobile

    Scan to access on mobile

    Keywords

    antihypertensive
    ethnomedicinal knowledge
    Mexican medicinal plants
    vasorelaxant effect
    No content available

    Related Articles