Use medicinal plants from the Cerrado region to treat ulcers

Abstract

Brazil is a country with enormous biodiversity. The Cerrado biome has more than 12,000 cataloged native plant species, of which 4,400 are endemic, thus being considered one of the biodiversity hotspots. Among this richness are medicinal plants which, despite advances in medicine, continue to be an important therapeutic alternative. In certain diseases, the use of medicinal plants can be safer than synthetic drugs, offering effective therapeutic alternatives with fewer side effects, such as in the treatment of gastric ulcers. Gastric ulcers are frequently associated with Helicobacter pylori infection, prolonged use of anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as alcoholism and smoking. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of medicinal plant species from the Brazilian Cerrado used for the treatment of ulcers. The systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed, Capes Journals, Google Scholar, and SciELO databases. As a search strategy, the Boolean operator “AND” was used to combine the terms: “stomach AND ulcer AND medicinal plants AND Brazil”. 398 articles were obtained, and after applying the exclusion criteria, 12 articles were summarized. Based on the findings presented, it is concluded that, despite the high therapeutic potential of medicinal plants from the Cerrado in the treatment of gastric ulcers, scientific literature is still scarce and concentrated in specific periods and locations, highlighting a significant gap in knowledge.