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Traditional Plants Used by Remaining Healers from the Region of Grande Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

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Abstract

Although the traditional use of medicinal plants is a very widespread practice in Brazil, there are still few studies aimed at native prescribers, known as healers. The aim of this work was to catalog the medicinal species prescribed by remaining healers of the Grande Dourados region, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with support of a standardized questionnaire for remaining healers selected using the “snowball” technique. The medicinal species selected were collected, identified, and classified according to the British National Formulary. Remaining healers were identified in seven municipalities in the region of Grande Dourados. Family, divine revelation, and participation of the Catholic Church were the most important sources of knowledge. Seventy-one medicinal species, mainly herbaceous belonging to Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Amaranthaceae, and Verbenaceae families, were the most prescribed. Most species are used in the treatment of digestive and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to immune and respiratory diseases. Healers from the region of Grande Dourados maintain considerable ethno-knowledge about the medicinal properties of different medicinal species. Sharing this information values their culture and preserves the knowledge for future generations.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul (Grant No. 59/300.046/2015) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Grant No. 449464/2014-8)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Eletrofisiologia e Farmacologia Cardiovascular (LEFaC), Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Rodovia Dourados-Itahum, km 12, P.O. Box 533, Dourados, MS, 79.804-970, Brazil

    Fabiana Chagas Coelho, Cleide Adriane Signor Tirloni, Aline Aparecida Macedo Marques, Francielly Mourão Gasparotto & Arquimedes Gasparotto Junior

  2. Laboratório de Pesquisa Pré-Clínica em Produtos Naturais, Universidade Paranaense, Umuarama, PR, Brazil

    Francislaine Aparecida dos Reis Lívero

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  1. Fabiana Chagas Coelho
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  2. Cleide Adriane Signor Tirloni
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  3. Aline Aparecida Macedo Marques
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  4. Francielly Mourão Gasparotto
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  5. Francislaine Aparecida dos Reis Lívero
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  6. Arquimedes Gasparotto Junior
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Correspondence to Arquimedes Gasparotto Junior.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975.

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Coelho, F.C., Tirloni, C.A.S., Marques, A.A.M. et al. Traditional Plants Used by Remaining Healers from the Region of Grande Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. J Relig Health 58, 572–588 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0713-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0713-0

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