Medicinal Plants Used in the Therapeutics of Patients with Hypertension and Type II Diabetes, of the Tepehuana Indigenous Region

Abstract

This study was realized utilizing the northeastern medicinal plant collection from the state of Veracruz (aka the Tepehuana region) with the aim of raising awareness of their physiologically-active compounds and their therapeutic application in type 2 diabetes and hypertension. These plants were collected in their wild type state and extensive research of their known therapeutic effects as alternative allopathic treatment in patients suffering the mentioned chronic degenerative diseases was conducted. Mexican herbalism is an extensive field and its origins date back to ancient times when our ancestors began the arduous task of classifying medicinal plants according to their observed effects; however, over time the knowledge and use of these plants has greatly diminished, replaced by commercially-available drugs and the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, the great biodiversity of plants still conserved in modern-day Mexico continues to contribute to allopathic treatments in the population, particularly in the rural areas. Therefore, our main objective is to disclose novel physiologically-active compounds from these plants, with the purpose amplifying their therapeutic targets and reducing the adverse effects that synthetic drugs exert on vital organs, including the liver and kidneys. The future perspectives of this study focus on the extraction of these compounds, and their pharmacological and toxicological characterization, employing both cellular and animal models, with the goal of bench-side to bed-side applicability.