Resumo

ABREU GUIRADO, Orlando A.  e  CUELLAR CUELLAR, Armando. Strategies for the selection of medicinal plants to be studied. Rev Cubana Plant Med [online]. 2008, vol.13, n.3. ISSN 1028-4796.

Background: Plant species are estimated to be 250 000 to 500 000, so the selection criteria for development of drugs may sometimes be a problem. If they are not properly designed, then the results may be useless. Objectives: to analyze several strategies for selection that can be adopted. Methods: Seven criteria were included and assessed for the research approach. Results: The most used current criteria were random collection (mainly influenced by commercial interests) and ethnomedical knowledge of peoples-based criteria (mainly academic performance considered); other recent disciplines like Genomics and Metabolomics are already been implemented in this field. When appropriate, these criteria may be combined. Furthermore, some elements that seem to have no relation with selection criteria may be essential in this regard such as information technologies, specialized database and conservation and bioethical aspects. Conclusions: the selection criteria of plant species to develop drugs may be varied, restrictions are not always kept and the combination of some of them is feasible.

Palavras-chave : Medicinal plant selection; ethnobotany; ethnopharmacology; pharmacological assays; photochemistry.