Hindawi Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2017, Article ID 5748256, 52 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5748256 Review Article Medicinal Plants for the Treatment of Local Tissue Damage Induced by Snake Venoms: An Overview from Traditional Use to Pharmacological Evidence Juliana Félix-Silva,1 Arnóbio Antônio Silva-Junior,1 Silvana Maria Zucolotto,2 and Matheus de Freitas Fernandes-Pedrosa1 1 Laboratorio´ de Tecnologia & Biotecnologia Farmaceuticaˆ (TecBioFar), Faculdade de Farmacia,´ Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN, Brazil 2GrupodePesquisaemProdutosNaturaisBioativos(PNBio),Laboratorio´ de Farmacognosia, Faculdade de Farmacia,´ Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Matheus de Freitas Fernandes-Pedrosa;
[email protected] Received 23 February 2017; Accepted 9 July 2017; Published 21 August 2017 AcademicEditor:RainerW.Bussmann Copyright © 2017 Juliana Felix-Silva´ et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Snakebites are a serious problem in public health due to their high morbimortality. Most of snake venoms produce intense local tissue damage, which could lead to temporary or permanent disability in victims. The available specific treatment is the antivenom serum therapy, whose effectiveness is reduced against these effects. Thus, the search for complementary alternatives for snakebite treatment is relevant. There are several reports of the popular use of medicinal plants against snakebites worldwide. In recent years, many studies have been published giving pharmacological evidence of benefits of several vegetal species against local effects induced by a broad range of snake venoms, including inhibitory potential against hyaluronidase, phospholipase, proteolytic, hemorrhagic, myotoxic, and edematogenic activities.