Known and unknown medicinal plants used in respiratory disorders in Brazilian folk medicine: a brief review

Abstract

This review aimed to describe some plants used in Brazilian folk medicine in respiratory disorders, highlighting species not well known to the Brazilian citizens. The articles were surveyed in the MEDLINE / PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS / Elsevier, SciELO and Cochrane with the descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCS) databases: Medicinal plants, herbal medicine and respiratory diseases with the keywords: secondary metabolites and pulmonary disorders, considering the period from June 2010 to June 2020. The results indicated that species known as Mikania glomerata and Allium sativum, are well studied, presenting a large volume of publications and results on phytochemical and pharmacological aspects. In contrast, lesser-known species of the Brazilian population, such as Amburana cearensis, Hybanthus ipecacuanha, and Jatropha curcas, need more studies, which explore their potential in the medical field. Brazilian biodiversity offers a wide variety of medicinal plants, some of which are better known and studied; others less known and little studied, requiring further investigation in order to provide a scientific basis, both for the isolation and synthesis of molecules and for possible therapeutic applications in different respiratory diseases.