Medicinal plants traded in the open-air markets in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: an overview on their botanical diversity and toxicological potential

Vernonanthura polyanthes leaves aqueous extract enhances doxorubicin genotoxicity in somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster and presents no antifungal activity against Candida spp.

“…It has been reported that plants belonging to Vernonia Genus presents a plenty of bioactivities, including antiplasmodial, antileishmanial, antischistosomial, cytotoxicity, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory (Toyang and Verpoorte, 2013). The Vernonanthura species represent the "assa-peixes" used in Brazil in the composition of syrups for the treatment of flus and colds (Leitão et al, 2014). V. polyanthes is a plant common in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Mato Grosso and Goiás, occurring primarily in Cerrado biome.…”

“…Many species of Asteraceae, including that ones belonging to Vernonia Genus, exhibit significant antifungal activity (Toyang and Verpoorte, 2013;Leitão et al, 2014). Many studies are being carried out to find plant species with potential antifungal activity Höfling et al, 2010), because synthetic drugs may exhibit high toxicity to patients (Araújo et al, 2004).…”

Ethnobiology In The City: Embracing the Urban Ecological Moment

“…Urban ethnopharmacology receives particular emphasis through research on topics such as continued use of medicinal plants in urban settings (Alberto Hurrell et al 2011, 2013Ceuterick et al 2011;Kose et al 2015;Philander 2011;Pieroni and Gray 2008;Vandebroek and Balick 2014), differences in dissemination of medicinal plant knowledge by rural versus urban teachers (Ladio and Molares 2013), and historical investigations of this relationship (Alm 2013;Łuczaj and Kujawska 2012;Svanberg et al 2012). A number of studies examine the role of urban markets in maintaining access to and use of wild plants for medicinal practices (Dogan and Nedelcheva 2015;Leitão et al 2014;Lima et al 2016;Monteiro et al 2011;Termote et al 2012), including how urban ''weeds'' become commodified (Ladio and Molares 2013). Other ethnobiologists have investigated perceptions and management of urban ecosystems for water quality (Collier et al 2015;Gartin et al 2010), differences in local plants and land uses by members of a cultural group residing in rural and urban settings (Furusawa et al 2014;Molebatsi et al 2010) or along the ruralperiurban gradient (Poot-Pool et al 2015;Sogbohossou et al 2015).…”

Cissus verticillata (L.) Nicolson and C.E. Jarvis (Vitaceae): Its identification and usage in the sources from 16th to 19th century

“…The latter recommendation is reported as a widely known one in popular medicine (Lino et al, 2007;Trojan-Rodrigues et al, 2012), therefore one of the vernacular names of Cissus verticillata in Brazil is insulina vegetal i.e. 'plant-insulin' (Silva et al, 1996;Oliveira and Mendonça, 2006;Leitão et al, 2014). Other medicinal actions confirmed so far are: anti-inflammatory (stems, Garcia et al, 2000) and antiepileptic (anticonvulsant, Medeiros et al 2002).…”