Estudo etnobotânico das árvores medicinais do Parque Ecológico Municipal José Milanese, Criciúma, Santa Catarina, Brasil / Ethnobotany survey of medicinal trees of the José Milanese Municipal Ecological Park, city of Criciúma, state of Santa Catarina - Brazil

O presente estudo foi realizado no Parque Ecológico Municipal José Milanese (PEMJM), localizado no Bairro Mina União, no Município de Criciúma, Santa Catarina - Brasil, tendo como objetivo realizar levantamento etnobotânico no PEMJM sobre as 31 árvores medicinais descritas por Figueiró-Leandro & Citadini-Zanette (2008), junto aos moradores do entorno do referido parque, detentores do conhecimento com plantas medicinais. Os dados foram coletados no período de fevereiro a abril de 2008 por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas nas residências dos informantes. Das 31 árvores medicinais presentes no PEMJM, 14 foram citadas pelos entrevistados, atribuindo a elas, 42 indicações terapêuticas. Os farmacógenos mais utilizados foram: folhas (76,25%) e cascas (12,5%). As formas mais expressivas de preparo foram: o decocto (36,25%), e o infuso (28,75%). Em relação às indicações terapêuticas destacaram-se três espécies: Casearia sylvestris Sw. (guaçatonga) e Jacaranda puberula Cham. (carobinha), com nove indicações cada uma, e Zollernia ilicifolia (Brongn.) Vogel (carapicica-de-folha-lisa), com oito indicações. Muitas das indicações terapêuticas relatadas neste estudo não constam na literatura consultada por Figueiró-Leandro & Citadini-Zanette (2008) evidenciando a necessidade de mais pesquisas sobre essas plantas e a importância do registro das informações populares.

This study was carried out at the José Milanese Municipal Ecological Park (PEMJM), located in Mina União, municipality of Criciúma, state of Santa Catarina - Brazil, aiming to do an ethnobotanical survey of the 31 medicinal trees described by Figueiró-Leandro & Citadini-Zanette (2008) in the PEMJM together with the surrounding residents of that park, who possess knowledge of medicinal plants. The data were collected from February to April 2008 through semi-structured interviews, which were held in the houses of the respondents. From 31 medicinal trees present in the Park, 14 were mentioned by the respondents, giving to such trees 42 therapeutic indications. The most used pharmacogens were the leaves (76.25%) and barks (12.5%), and among the ways of preparation the most revealing ones were in the form of decoction (36.25%) and infusion (28.75%). In relation to therapeutic indications, three tree species were mentioned: Casearia sylvestris Sw. and Jacaranda puberula Cham. with nine indications, and Zollernia ilicifolia (Brongn.) Vogel with eight indications. Many of the therapeutic indications reported in this study are not in the literature verified by Figueiró-Leandro & Citadini-Zanette (2008), which shows the necessity of carrying out more research studies on such plants and the importance of registering popular information.

Haplotype distribution of five nuclear genes based on network genealogies and Bayesian inference indicates that Trypanosoma cruzi hybrid strains are polyphyletic.

Chagas disease is still a major public health problem in Latin America. Its causative agent, Trypanosoma cruzi, can be typed into three major groups, T. cruzi I, T. cruzi II and hybrids. These groups each have specific genetic characteristics and epidemiological distributions. Several highly virulent strains are found in the hybrid group; their origin is still a matter of debate. The null hypothesis is that the hybrids are of polyphyletic origin, evolving independently from various hybridization events. The alternative hypothesis is that all extant hybrid strains originated from a single hybridization event. We sequenced both alleles of genes encoding EF-1alpha, actin and SSU rDNA of 26 T. cruzi strains and DHFR-TS and TR of 12 strains. This information was used for network genealogy analysis and Bayesian phylogenies. We found T. cruzi I and T. cruzi II to be monophyletic and that all hybrids had different combinations of T. cruzi I and T. cruzi II haplotypes plus hybrid-specific haplotypes. Bootstrap values (networks) and posterior probabilities (Bayesian phylogenies) of clades supporting the monophyly of hybrids were far below the 95% confidence interval, indicating that the hybrid group is polyphyletic. We hypothesize that T. cruzi I and T. cruzi II are two different species and that the hybrids are extant representatives of independent events of genome hybridization, which sporadically have sufficient fitness to impact on the epidemiology of Chagas disease.