CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM THE PERUVIAN BIODIVERSITY

• Author
• Olga R. Lock Sing
• Abstract

• In Ancient Peru medicine and magic were intimately associated, curing arts and religious ceremonies had so much in common. Ancient Peru belongs to the period that started with the first peruvian inhabitants until the beginning of the XVI Century when the Spaniards arrived. Among the cultures that developed during that period are Chavin, Paracas, Mochica, Nazca, Tiahuanaco, Chancay, Chimu, and Inca. The knowledge of the medicine on Ancient Peru comes from three sources: paleontology, representative ceramics and Chronicles from the XVI and XVII century, Among the plants they have used, also called "remedies from the earth", existed a large number of cathartics, astringents, febrifuges, hemostatic, narcotics, balsams, expectorants, digestives, analgesics, etc. We have to remember how Peru contributed in 1630 with the quina or cinchona with its world known antimalaria properties. Although its uses started in that time, its active principles, quinine, quinidine, cinchonine and cinchonidine, were known or discovered in 1820 by Pelletier and Cavendou, French pharmacists. Peru is considered one of the 17 Megadiverse countries on the world, and it contains more than 25000 species with 30% of endemism and around 1500 species are used by the Peruvian population to cure their illnesses. In this 1st International Congress on Phytotherapy I will talk about eight peruvian medicinal plants. Six of them are in the list of the most exported plants from Peru. That explains why they are well known, extensively investigated and have an important generalized used. I will show their popular uses and the chemical compounds that they contain but they are not necessarily the bioactive compounds. Techniques used to propose the chemical structure are not shown but I will show a summary of the techniques that are involved in the phytochemical researches. The plants that will be mentioned are Uncaria tomentosa, Lepidium meyenii, Croton lechleri, Smallanthus sonchifolius, Physalis peruvianus, Maytenus macrocarpa, Notholaena nivea, and Iryanthera lancifolia and around 30 references are included.

   

• Keywords
• Medicinal Plants, Biodiversity, Phytochemistry
• Modality
• Pôster
• Subject Area
• Química de Produtos Naturais

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