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Volume 2 Issue 1 1000110Biochem Pharmacol
ISSN:2167-0501 BCPC, an open access journal
Review Article Open Access
Biochemistry & Pharmacology: Open AccessScovassi and Ortiz,
Biochem Pharmacol 2013, 2:1
http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-0501.1000110
Keywords: Andes; Ecuador; Herbal remedies; South
America;raditional medicine
Traditional Medicine
Around the world, the use o plants with pharmacological
propertiesis the main medical resource. Tis practice is known as
raditionalMedicine (M), Indigenous Medicine or Folk Medicine.
According toWHO [1], M includes knowledge, skills, and practices
based on thetheories, belies and experience proper o dierent
situations, appliedto the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or
treatment o physical andmental illness.
M implies the use o many herbal products that contain
wholeplants, parts o plants (leaves, roots, stems, ruits, owers,
seeds, twigs
and barks) or isolated active compounds advantageous against
severalhealth disorders [2,3]. Te relationship that exists between
people andplants is scientically dened as Ethnobotany [4]. Tis
knowledge ispassed rom generation to generation in populations
around the world,usually by word o mouth and/or cultural rituals
[5].
About 80% o the world population, both in developing
anddeveloped countries, uses M or the maintenance o good
health[6,7]. Its use is widespread mainly in countries o Arica,
Asia and LatinAmerica, where the economic situation is too critical
or obtainingpotent and eective drugs. [8-10]. In Arica, M is
applied mainly inthe treatment o malaria [11], given that this
country carries the highestlevel o inection by the Plasmodium
species responsible or this disease[12]. M can be also a source o
income, as it occurs in China and India,
where traditional health practices have evolved and developed
over theyears and are accepted as alternative therapies
[13,14].
Many plants are eective as anti-inammatory [15,16],
analgesics[17,18], antimicrobial and antispasmodics [19,20],
antidiabetics [21],antiviral [22] and even antitumoral [23-26],
possibly through a generalantioxidant activity [27]. In act,
medicinal plants are a source or awide variety o natural
antioxidant compounds and may exert theireects via several
mechanisms, including the inhibition o the activitieso
cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and Nuclear Factor-Kappa B
(NF-B),angiogenesis and activation o Nr2-mediated antioxidant
signaling [28].
South America: A green-gold rich land
In South America (e.g. Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), herbal
medicine
is extensively practiced by ethnic groups and requently used by
a broadcross-section o the larger society [29,30], representing an
alternativeto expensive Western medicine [31]. In this zone, many
actors
interere with the vegetative growth, i.e. temperature, rain,
radiation,persistent lea wetness, high wind speeds, and others
climatic actors;water, acidity, and nutrients are important as well
[32,33]. In SouthAmerica, there is a large ecosystem with a wide
variety o natural and
vegetative regions: the Andes, which are characterized by the
presenceo about 40,000 plant species, more than in tropical Arica
and Asiatogether, representing 15% o the total in only 1% o earths
surace.Most o this diversity is ound in the lowland and mid
elevation othe Andean mountains [34,35]. Local populations, mainly
indigenousgroups, transmit their ethnobotanical knowledge rom
generation togeneration maintaining their ancestral traditions in
the use o naturalremedies [29,30,36,37].
Te variety o plants in this area and their peculiar
habitatexplain their medicinal potential [6,11,38]. Te chemical
compoundsresponsible or the pharmacological activity are known as
secondarymetabolites, small organic molecules that are oen made in
a restrictedand limited number o plant species, a genus, a single
amily, or a ewamilies, and are used as medicinal remedies through
the consumptionor as botanical ormulations [7].
Within the Andes, Ecuador, including also the Galpagos Islands,
isbordered by Colombia on the North, Peru on the East and South,
andby the Pacic Ocean to the West, and possesses the highest
biodiversityin the world. Tere are two important vegetative areas:
Yasun NationalPark, with an area o 9,820 km2, located between the
Napo and Pastazaprovinces, at the north-western o this country;
Podocarpus NationalPark, with an area o 1462.80 km, located in the
provinces o ZamoraChinchipe and Loja, in the South-East o Ecuador,
both with a large and
rich variety o plant species [35,39,40].
Loja, a province located at the South Ecuador, is crossed by
theAndean mountains, which give rise to an irregular topography
withdifcult access. Altitudes vary between 700 and 3700 m.a.s.l.
Te
*Corresponding author: Ivana Scovassi A, Istituto di Genetica
Molecolare
CNR, ViaAbbiategrasso 207, 27100 Pav ia, Italy, E-mail:
[email protected]
Received November 21, 2012; Accepted December 19, 2012;
Published
December 21, 2012
Citation: Scovassi AI, Guamn Ortiz LM. (2013) Traditional
Medicine: An
Ancient Remedy Rediscovered. Biochem Pharmacol 2:110.
doi:10.4172/2167-
0501.1000110
Copyright: 2013 Scovassi AI, et al. This is an open-access
article distributedunder the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the
original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The medicinal plant power is often neglected or underestimated.
In fact, many people ignore that most of the drugs
they use come from plants. A large amount of herbal products
have been used in traditional health care since prehistory,
being employed for the rst time in ancient China. Plants are
still the most important health care source for the vast
majority of the population around the world. Traditional
Medicine implies the use of plants and/or active principles
because of their curative properties, easy availability and poor
side effects, or because other drugs are inaccessible;
therefore, herbal remedies are gaining importance and expanding
throughout the world. This review focuses on the
importance of plants from South America.
Traditional Medicine: An Ancient Remedy RediscoveredIvana
Scovassi A1* and Luis Miguel Guamn Ortiz1,21Institute of Molecular
Genetics, CNR, Pavia, Italy2Technical University of Loja,
Ecuador
http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-0501.1000110http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-0501.1000110http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-0501.1000110http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-0501.1000110
