A Perspective on Natural Products Research and Ethnopharmacology in Mexico: The Eagle and the Serpent on the Prickly Pear Cactus

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• 作者：Michael Heinrich ; Barbara Frei Haller ; Marco Leonti
• 刊名：Journal of Natural Products
• 出版年：2014
• 出版时间：March 28, 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：77
• 期：3
• 页码：678-689
• 全文大小：473K
• 年卷期：v.77,no.3(March 28, 2014)
• ISSN：1520-6025

文摘

Mexico鈥檚 extraordinarily rich cultural and floristic diversity has fascinated explorers and researchers ever since the 鈥淣ew World鈥?was discovered for and by Europeans. For many decades, natural product research has been a very active field of research in Mexico, and there also are some ongoing ethnopharmacological research efforts. This review provides an overview and critical appraisal on some key developments in these fields and examples of medicinal plants used by indigenous communities that have become of great local importance in Mexican popular medicine. In this review, the focus is on plants with effects on the CNS, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, inflammatory processes, and gastrointestinal disorders. While some of the major food plants consumed worldwide originate from southern North America, only very few medicinal plants have become of major global importance. Opuntia species are now used increasingly to manage diabetes and metabolic syndrome and represent an example of a novel medicinal product/supplement. Undoubtedly, narcotic and mind-altering drugs both have received the widest scientific interest and have attracted considerable popular attention. The history of use of the indigenous Mexican Materia Medica in the context of research on local and popular resources specifically with regard to the diverse challenges in the context of studying the world鈥檚 biodiversity and the development of comparative and semiquantitative ethnobotanical research methods is discussed herein. Natural product and ethnopharmacological research in Mexico seems to have been influenced by the political and societal developments originating from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and subsequent conventions, which have not yet had the desired effect of giving value to these local resources, as they might deserve. Their equitable and sustainable implementation remains a challenge. Natural product research and ethnopharmacology will play a key role in developing an adequate evidence base for such products derived from local and traditional knowledge in Mexico.