A Pharmacological And Phytochemical Study Of Medicinal Plants Used In Mexican Folk Medicine

Sonora market is one of the most important places in Latin America: for management of traditional medicine due to the convergence of knowledge from several different indigenous communities. For this reason we decided to apply the standardization methodology proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and adapted by our research group to a total of ten plants used in the Sonora market, because of their referred antioxidant properties. A fragment of 18S rDNA of four of these plants was registered in GenBank database 2014 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/). Quantitative analysis showed that the E. angustifolia commercial extract (Maryel Nature Gold) contains higher levels of total flavonoids than the extracts of the plants used in the Sonora market. However, chlorogenic acid was found in Caste la erecta Turpin ssp "chaparro ainargo", Larrea tridentata (Sesse & Moc. ex DC.) Coville "gobernadora", Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. "Raiz de nopal", Tecoma stans "tronadora", and Ibervillea sonorae (S. Watson) Greene "Wereke", but not in the E. angustifolia (R) extract. Antioxidant activity was higher in the E. angustifolia (R) extract compared to the extracts of evaluated plants. This information will serve as basis for progress in the recovery, standardization, pharmacological characterization and application of medicinal plants used in Mexican traditional medicine.