A scientific study by Unaerp and the Fernando Lee Foundation is analyzing how medicinal plants behave in seaside regions. Since last year, Medicinal Garden research project has been cultivating 15 medicinal species to understand its therapeutic effectiveness in coastal environments.

The first seedlings were inserted in November 2019, at Campus Unaerp Guarujá and at Ilha dos Arvoredos, 1.6 km from Pernambuco Beach, in Guarujá. The planting was attended by students and professors of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Medicine from Unaerp Guarujá, in addition to researchers from Fernando Lee Foundation and Unaerp. The same species were also introduced in Ordem e Progresso Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants, in Jardinópolis.

For the Nursing student at Unaerp Guarujá, Isaias Mota, it was incredible to participate in the planting. “We can make this popular knowledge become something scientific”. Carlos Henrique da Silva Martins studies medicine and collaborated in the garden. “I found it very interesting, medicinal plants are new to me, I had only seen it in the literature." According to him, participating in the action was a good opportunity to learn more about it.

The plants studied are those popularly known as melissa, mint, horsetail, passion fruit, rosemary, gorse, guaco, espinheira santa, favacão and chambá. In addition, citronella, whaling, echinacea, turmeric and zedoaria. Throughout this year, the first samples were collected and analyzed in the Phytochemistry laboratory at the Department of Biotechnology, at Unaerp Ribeirão Preto, to investigate the development of medicinal compounds in these environments with differences in soil, altitude, longitude and temperature. Now, some preliminary results are starting to be published in scientific publications.

“We developed this project in order to verify the therapeutic effectiveness, based on chemical and biological studies. And our idea is that we can bring this to Health courses in Guarujá campus, so that students have the opportunity to access this knowledge of medicinal plants, which is of great importance for Brazil in relation to the population health ”, explains the project coordinator and researcher at Unaerp Biotechnology Unit, Prof. Dr. Ana Maria Soares Pereira.

Unaerp Guarujá dean and researcher, Priscilla Bonini Ribeiro, encouraged the project to come to the Guarujá Campus, in this exchange of knowledge. "It is a beautiful initiative that can benefit the local population and, above all, rescue and perpetuate knowledge about the power of medicinal plants".

First results - One of the first studies was recently published in the XVII International Symposium on Integrated Sciences at Unaerp Guarujá. The master researcher in Biotechnology in medicinal plants, Gustavo Henrique Teixeira Pinto, studied the quantification of rosmarinic acid, an asset with anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties, present in three species of the garden: melissa (Melissa officinalis), favacão (Ocimum gratissimum) and whaling weed (Cordia verbenacea).

"The objective was to verify if the plants are producing the assets in these locations, for the development of medicines that are effective and that are safe. All presented the acid, but the concentration varied between the locations. The result was satisfactory because it showed that the locations interfere in the production of these compounds. ” Other results should be presented in the future, in national and international scientific publications.

Also participating in the planting group at Guarujá campus were Medicine students Daniela Antunes, Isabela Ferreira and Leonardo Bueno, Physiotherapy student Denize Viturino, and Nursing student Camila Frota, as well as health course professor Luiz Carlos Rodrigues Guanabara and Prof. Dr. Priscilla Bonini Ribeiro. The project also includes researchers from Fernando Lee Foundation - Prof. Dr. Rita Maria Moraes, Carlos Renato F. Rodrigues and Bernardo Bonini.

Fifteen species are being studied in the Medicinal Garden Project...


... carried out in a joint effort by Unaerp and Fernando Lee Foundation


The introduction of the seedlings was attended by students and teachers from Unaerp Guarujá Campus.


The planting took place in November last year, in an area of the Guarujá Campus...


... also at Ilha dos Arvoredos, to seek to understand the development of these plants in a coastal environment


Profa. Dra. Ana Maria Soares Pereira coordinates the Medicinal Garden studies.


Researcher Gustavo Teixeira Pinto presented preliminary studies of the garden at the XVII SICI of Unaerp Guarujá.