Anti-Inflammatory Chilean Endemic Plants

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been used since prehistoric times and continue to treat several diseases as a fundamental part of the healing process. Inflammation is a condition characterized by redness, pain, and swelling. This process is a hard response by living tissue to any injury. Furthermore, inflammation is produced by various diseases such as rheumatic and immune-mediated conditions, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and diabetes. Hence, anti-inflammatory-based treatments could emerge as a novel and exciting approach to treating these diseases. Medicinal plants and their secondary metabolites are known for their anti-inflammatory properties, and this review introduces various native Chilean plants whose anti-inflammatory effects have been evaluated in experimental studies. Fragaria chiloensis, Ugni molinae, Buddleja globosa, Aristotelia chilensis, Berberis microphylla, and Quillaja saponaria are some native species analyzed in this review. Since inflammation treatment is not a one-dimensional solution, this review seeks a multidimensional therapeutic approach to inflammation with plant extracts based on scientific and ancestral knowledge.

Cuánto hemos avanzado en el estudio de plantas nativas chilenas con potencial actividad antiinflamatoria

“…Por lo que se hace muy necesario que los investigadores de las universidades y la autoridad sanitaria, conversen, para regularizar los estudios clínicos que se hacen con plantas y este esfuerzo no se pierda. Finalmente la publicación de los resultados de nuestra revisión nos impulsa e incentiva para continuar estudiando y avalando científicamente la riqueza de nuestra flora chilena (Otero 2023).…”

Differential Extraction and Preliminary Identification of Polyphenols from Ugni candollei (White Murta) Berries

“…Antioxidants 2024, 13, 623 2 of 14 Murta, Murtilla, or Uñi in the Mapuche language, a prominent member of the Myrtaceae family, is a wild native perennial plant in south-central Chile, of which three varieties may be mostly found (Ugni molinae, Ugni candollei, and Ugni selkirkii). Murta fruit and leaf infusions are widely utilized in traditional medicine for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties [9]. Additionally, murta fruit extracts applied to cancer cell lines (SW48 and HT-29) induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis in human colorectal cancer cells after 72 h [10].…”

Evaluation of the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumoral properties of bioactive compounds extracted from murta berries (Ugni molinae T.) dried by different methods

“…While most studies of these phenolic compounds have been extensively focused on antioxidant capacity and, in murta fruits, on phytochemical composition and in vitro antioxidant activity, other biological activities remain to be explored. Indeed, the anti-inflammatory activity of only murta leaves has been described, attributed to the presence of triterpenoid acids, including 2-α-hydroxy derivatives alphitolic, corosolic, and asiatic acids ( Delporte et al., 2007 ; Goity et al., 2013 ; Otero et al., 2023 ). Furthermore, while berry extracts have been shown to inhibit cancer cell proliferation in vitro ( Golovinskaia and Wang, 2021 ; Bouyahya et al., 2022 ; Mazzoni et al., 2019 ), these also contain a wide range of phenolic compounds such as delphinidin-3-rutinoside, chlorogenic acid, and epicatechin that can inhibit carcinogenesis and prevent oxidative stress ( Miladinovic et al., 2023 ).…”