Living pharmacy in urban yards: Health care in the Amazon Farmácia viva em quintais urbanos: Atenção à saúde na Amazônia

Recebido: 23/10/2018 Aprovado: 23/12/2018 The ethnobotanical research group of in the Amazon in Universidade Estadual do Pará (Pará State University) has been studying the use of various plant species by traditional communities for the treatment and cure of diseases. This study aimed to identify the medicinal plants around the home most used in Bairro Mutirão, Abaetetuba, Pará, Brazil to correlate ethnopharmacological data with phytochemical studies, evaluating the contribution of these species to promote health in poor communities in the Amazon. There were non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews and guided tours in 189 yards. Phytochemical information was gathered from ScienceDirect, Scinfinder, Scopus, DataPlant, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. We identified 46 therapeutic species, particularly Aloe vera (L.) Burman. f.; Anacardium occidentale L.; Bixa orellana L.; Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers.; Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E.Br. ex P. Wilson and, Morinda citrifolia L., noted in the scientific literature as having antitumor, soothing, antiinflammatory and antimicrobial potential, confirming their ethnopharmacological use in home yards in Abaetetuba. The medicinal flora around homes in the Amazon is a path to the conservation of plant diversity in urbanized environments and potentially to the discovery of new drugs.


INTRODUCTION
Ethnobotanical surveys in local communities can investigate the potential of plant resources and forms of use by human societies, obtaining a wealth of information to pass on to future generations, providing for their survival needs (SILVA et al., 2015).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the traditional system based on medicinal plants is supported by about 75-80% of the world population, especially in developing countries, for primary health care due to better cultural acceptance, better toleration by the human body and lower side effects (WHO, 2008). Moreover, plants used for Revista Verde, v.14, n.1, p.120-127, 2019 medicinal purposes are believed to be favorable to health, since people who use them have prior knowledge of their purpose, risks and benefits (ANTONIO et al., 2013;BADKE et al., 2012).
Many species with medicinal, food and, wood purpose could be cultivated in a portion of land near the house with easy access, which is defined, according to Siviero et al. (2011) , as home yards. This type of cultivation is a promising approach to enhancing household food security and wellbeing (GALHENA et al., 2013), biodiversity conservation (GALLUZZI et al., 2010), socio-cultural preservation (MAZUMDAR;MAZUMDAR, 2012).
In the Amazon, the maintenance of urban yards is related in various ways to the daily life of communities, with multiple meanings for private and collective life, representing much more than a functional and utilitarian space (LOBATO et al., 2017;TOURINHO;SILVA, 2016). Siviero et al. (2011) highlights the importance of maintaining home yards in large centers in the supply of food directly through the yards or via exchanges with neighbors and relatives.
The diversity of medicinal plants found in home yards in the Amazon is the source of life and survival for residents of communities in the municipality of Abaetetuba, Pará (MOURA et al., 2016). The health disorders that most affect the residents of Bairro Mutirão include skin inflammation, wound healing difficulties, lack of sleep, nervous behavioral states and skin and stomach cancer. These diseases indicate the needs of the population, and as recorded in the publication Brasil (2012), traditional medicine using plants is the recommended strategy to meet such demands. This study aimed to identify the medicinal plants around the home most used in Bairro Mutirão, Abaetetuba, Pará, Brazil to correlate the ethnopharmacological data with previous phytochemical studies, evaluating the contribution of these species to promoting health in poor communities in the Amazon.

MATHERIAL AND METHODS
The study was conducted in the Amazon municipality of Abaetetuba, Pará, Brazil (01º43'24"S 48º52'54"W, altitude 10 m - Figure 1), in the period of August 2013 to October 2014. Data were collected in 189 home yards using nonparticipant observation techniques, semi-structured interviews, guided tours and notes in field diary (ALBUQUERQUE et al., 2010). Bairro Mutirão was selected because it has more than 10 years of existence, allowing the study of formed and established yards, presence of vegetation around the houses and because the accessibility to residences. Authorization was requested with the community leadership to carry out the research, which culminated in the signing of the Term of Prior Consent (TAP) during a meeting with the residents.
The interviews were held with experts in the use of medicinal plants for healthcare in Bairro Mutirão in the guided tours, it was possible to go over the area for cultivating medicinal plants with the local experts to find out about the use of each species (ALBUQUERQUE et al., 2010).
The plants of the yards were photographed and identified by comparison with the images of plants deposited in MFS (herbarium of Universidade do Estado do Pará -UEPA), and the scientific names were determined according to the Species List of the Flora of Brazil (2020). Phytochemical information was obtained from databases (ScienceDirect, Scinfinder, Scopus, DataPlant, Hindawi Publishing Corporation) and scientific journals as well.
The databases consultation occurred through the insertion of keywords (therapeutic indication, chemical composition, biological potential) in the search areas. Only the articles that presented information for the species most found in the backyards of the Bairro Mutirão were selected. After this initial screening, a table was created, using the software Microsoft Excel® -2010 to organize the data collected.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Forty-six therapeutic species (Table 1)  These six species are cultivated in yards and prepared using home recipes for health-related problems, such as wound healing, insomnia, for soothing and treating cancer ( Table 2). These benefíts have been described Freitas et al. (2015) for Anacardium occidentale L. (inflammation, injuries, flu); Aloe vera (L.) Burman. f. (wound healing; inflammation; hemorrhoids, injuries, lice, cancer, stimulant), and Morinda citrifolia L. (diabetes, cholesterol, infections, inflammation). These data reveal and emphasize that humans conserve transgenerational knowledge to maintain their natural pharmacopoeias, even if they are in urbanized areas. FURUSAWA, 1999). Anti-inflammatory; hypotensive; antimicrobial (ELKINS, 1997).
The extract of Aloe vera leaves tested by Kim et al. (1999) in rat liver cells against the action of benzopyrene demonstrated an antigenotoxic and antitumorigenic effect in vitro and thus may be considered for its potential in cancer chemoprevention. Esmat et al. (2006) discussed the cytotoxic activity of aloin, an Aloe natural anthracycline, against two human breast cancer cell lines, suggesting that this substance may be used in the treatment of tumors.
Fractionation of the ethanol extract of the stem bark of Anacardium occidentale resulted in the isolation of anacardics with an unsaturated side chain (monoene and diene), as free steroids, glycosylated and esterified with fatty acids, while the ethanol extract of the seed coat showed the steroids sitosterol and stigmasterol, the pentacyclic triterpenoids lupeol and β-amyrin and the flavanols catechin and epicatechin, substances that significantly indicate the antioxidant potential of this species (CHAVES et al., 2010).
Bioactive compounds from irradiated leaf extracts of Anacardium occidentale showed high antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and multidrug-resistant, in vitro (SANTOS et al., 2018). Blood glucose levels in rats showed that treatment with the extracts of A. occidentale leaves was more effective than with glyburide (synthetic antidiabetic drug), confirming its antidiabetic effect of this species (OKPASHI et al., 2014). Trabulsi Filho et al. (2013) reported that the hydroalcoholic extracts of A. occidentale leaves not only had strong antioxidant activity but also a moderate cytotoxic effect on trophozoites of Giardia lamblia. It was also demonstrated that extractive procedure and solvent are variables that influence the extracts obtained and thus yields and antioxidant and giardicidal activities.

Bixa orellana L. (Bixaceae)
This species is native to Brazil and is cultivated in other parts of South and Central America (VILAR et al., 2014). It is commonly found as an ornamental plant in Brazil (CUSTODIO et al., 2002), and its seeds produce one of the most widely used dyes worldwide, not only in food but also in the textiles, paints and cosmetics (VILAR et al., 2014).
This aromatic shrub is found throughout tropical and subtropical America, widely distributed throughout Brazil, growing spontaneously on abandoned land or cultivated medicinal gardens (AGUIAR; COSTA, 2005). It has essential oils rich in mono-and sesquiterpenes (AGUIAR et al., 2008), and the chemical composition Lippia L. shows volatile constituents, alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, naphthoquinones and iridoids (GOMES et al., 2011).
Its aromatic metabolites have been characterized in the country, presenting different chemical markers with pharmacological properties already known, such as analgesic, sedative and antifungal (CAMILLO, 2016). Actions of citral, limonene and myrcene (essential oil constituents of a Lippia alba chemotype) on the central nervous system, evaluated by Vale et al. (2002), showed that all these components have sedative and motor relaxing effects. At high doses, produced a potentiation of pentobarbital-induced sleep in mice, more intense in the presence of citral, but none of the components showed an anxiolytic effect (VALE et al., 2002).

Morinda citrifolia L. (Rubiaceae)
Originally from Southeast Asia, this plant was recently introduced in Brazil with strong commercial appeal because of the beneficial features attributed to it (MATOSO et al., 2013). It is known for producing alkaloids, iridoids, anthraquinones, and flavonoids (ROSA et al., 2010;TINTINO et al., 2015). Morinda citrifolia has phenolic groups in the form of anthraquinones and their glycosides (damnacanthal, morindone, morindine, scopoletin, alizarin, austrocortinin, rubiadin). Revista Verde, v.14, n.1, p.120-127, 2019 A fraction rich in polysaccharides, obtained from fruit juice by ethanol precipitation, showed antitumor activity in Lewis lung carcinoma model in rats. The precipitate also stimulated the release of certain cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-10 and IF-γ (HIRAAZUMI; FURUSAWA, 1999). Arpornsuwan and Punjanon (2006) showed the growthinhibition of breast cancer and neuroblastoma cell lines in vitro by a methanol extract of the fruits of Morinda L. at a concentration of 0.1 mg/ml. Pharmacological investigations have demonstrated that the roots of Morinda citrifolia possess an antihypertensive action and that an alcoholic extract has an in vitro antispasmodic effect (MOOKHTIAR et al., 2018).
There are a variety of substances that range from the compounds most frequently found in plants to others of highly specific molecular formulas, a fact that contributes to the knowledge of pharmacological properties still unknown or little studied. Thus, the medicinal flora in the yards of Amazon people also represents a way for the discovery of new drugs, or extension of their use.