Traditional Plants Used in Southern Brazil as a Source to Wound Healing Therapies.

In southern Brazil, the biodiversity is great and the traditional use of medicinal plants for wound healing has been documented in ethnobotanical studies and pharmacological studies have assessed their wound properties and phytochemistry. Therefore, this study evaluated ethnobotanical surveys regarding medicinal plants used in southern Brazil for wound healing and studies about the healing properties of these plants published between 2000 and 2022. To retrieve articles related to the study, Web of Science, PubMed (NLM), Open Access Journals, Scielo, Lilacs, and Google Scholar, with keywords including medicinal plants, wound healing, and South of Brazil, have been used. As a result, 73 medicinal plants belonging to 39 families were found in ethnobotanical surveys as a traditional resource used for wound healing in southern Brazil, 15 of which were cited more than once. Besides, 14 of these 15 plants were also used as healing agents worldwide. The most cited plant with healing actions in southern Brazil was Symphytum officinale L. (comfrey). From 2000 to date, 44 articles scientifically demonstrated the wound-healing effects of the southern Brazilian plants found in ethnobotanical surveys reviewed. The folk medicine of southern Brazil presents a variety of medicinal plants for wound-healing purposes, and scientific data were found for some of those plants. However, the wound-healing properties of many plants have yet to be investigated, and the current literature still needs more phytochemical information about the plants studied. Aside from this, the future focus should be on the standardization of herbal extracts, and further research is required to investigate the pharmacological mechanisms. Clinical research in this area remains in its infancy and warrants more robust further clinical studies.

Brazilian Red Propolis Accelerates Gastric Healing and Reduces Gastric Submucosal Layer Inflammation in Ultrasound-Monitored Rats.

Propolis has been used for the treatment of gastric disturbances in folk medicine, nevertheless, the gastric healing effects of Brazilian red propolis have not been unveiled. This study aimed to assess the gastric healing effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of red propolis (HERP) in the acetic acid-induced ulcer model. Rats under acetic acid-induced-ulcer were treated with HERP (100 mg/kg, p.o.) twice a day for seven days. Histological changes, oxidative stress, and inflammatory parameters were analyzed in the gastric tissue. Moreover, the gastric wall thickness was measured by ultrasound. The in vitro cytotoxicity of HERP and cellular migration of fibroblasts were evaluated. The treatment with HERP promoted gastric healing, reducing gastric wall thickness, macroscopic lesion area, and histopathological damages compared to the vehicle. Moreover, HERP reduced oxidative stress and inflammation in the gastric tissue but did not change mucin or collagen levels. HERP did not show signs of toxicity either in vivo or in vitro. HERP displayed a healing effect in vivo by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. These data contribute to validating the popular use of this product in the treatment of gastric disorders and advance scientific knowledge in the search for new drugs for the management of gastric ulcers.