**9. Conclusions**

The MP form part of the daily life of the worldwide population. It is currently of scientific interest due to its high consumption, as an alternative treatment and/or coadministered with allopathic treatments for the improvement of chronic-degenerative diseases. On the other hand, the population has been responsible for affording a great boost to the use of MP; therefore, its consumption generates a great demand and consequently overexploitation. This overexploitation is a danger in the extinction of species of pharmaceutical interest. Another problem regarding the consumption of MP is that not all the population has access to species that are endemic and that have

*Modulation of Secondary Metabolites among Mexican Medicinal Plants by Using Elicitors… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99888*

great biological potential. All the above led to the search for methods to achieve the production and induction of SMt biosynthesis with important biological activity in less time, with constant, controlled and standardized production. Besides helping to preserve plant species without altering the ecosystem.

In some cases, has been reported that cell suspension cultures increase by up to 300% the production of SMt with biological interest respect to wild plant material. In addition, to the increase in SMt production, these are obtained in less complex mixtures, which facilitates the purification process. In the present work, we describe several SMt obtained for biotechnological processing; however, many of these SMt have not been submitted to *in vivo* studies that prove their potential biological activity. Therefore, it is necessary to develop projects aimed at obtaining metabolites by biotechnological processes and demonstrate their biological activity in *in vivo* models.

### **Acknowledgements**

Susan Drier for English language corrections.
