Cytotoxic effect of the ethanolic extract of Lophocereus schottii: a Mexican medicinal plant.

Lophocereus schottii is a Mexican cactus known as garambullo whose bark is used for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, ulcers, sores, stomach disorders and tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of the ethanolic extract of bark of L. Schottii. To assess these effects we established a flow of experiments in a model of BALB/c mice murine lymphoma. We value first survival of mice inoculated with 2 × 10(4) L5178Y murine lymphoma cells, orally treated with 10 mg/Kg of the extract for 10 consecutive days; the second assessment was to determine the influence of the immune system, we carry out studies of lymphoproliferation in mice with the same conditions of the previous study, only that the treatment was for 22 days before the completion cell cultures; the third study was to establish the cytotoxic effect of extract of L. schottii using different concentrations, by murine lymphoma cell cultures and splenocytes from healthy mice and finally we assessed the effect in vivo of extract of L. Schottii in a model of solid murine lymphoma inoculating 1 × 10(7) lymphoma cells in the gastrocnemius muscle observing the development of the tumor. We observed that oral treatment of 10 mg/kg of extract of L. schottii increased survival rate in treated mice; additionally, an intratumoral injection of 50 and 100 mg/kg in a solid murine lymphoma located in the gastrocnemius muscle, allowed a significantly slower tumor evolution. In vitro studies determined that extract inhibited 63% of lymphoma cell growth. With these evidences it is feasible to scientifically validate that ethanolic extract of L. schottii had an effect on L5178Y murine cells lymphoma and could have the same effect in human tumors.

Immunostimulating effect of aqueous extract of Amphypterygium adstringens on immune cellular response in immunosuppressed mice.

Amphypterygium adstringens is a Mexican tree known as cuachalalate whose bark is habitually used for the treatment of fresh wounds, gastric ulcers, gastrointestinal cancer and various inflammatory conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunostimulant effect of the aqueous extract of A. adstringens on immune cellular response in immunosuppressed mice. An aqueous extract from the bark of cuachalalate was administered into BALB/c mice for 10 days. We assessed their immunostimmulant activity on cellular immune response by Delayed Type Hypersensitivity Response (DHT) to dinitrofluorobencene (DNFB) and by MTT assay. L5178Y lymphoma was used as immunossuppression model. An increase in DHT was observed after treatment with 10 and 100 mg/kg of the aqueous extract from A. adstringens oral treatment in lymphoma bearing mice. Splenocyte proliferation rate was significantly increased (2.5 time) in immunosuppresed mice treated with 10 mg/kg oral treatment compared with group that received vehicle only. The present study showed for the first time the aqueous extract from A. adstringens as a positive immunostimulant agent in lymphoma bearing mice and we demonstrated evidence to support the traditionally use of cuachalalate in conditions in which the immune system is depressed.

The CD271 expression could be alone for establisher phenotypic marker in Bone Marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of great interest for their potential use in cellular therapies. To define the population more precisely, diverse surface markers have been used. We propose here to use CD271 as the sole marker for MSCs in fresh bone marrow. We compared CD271+ populations to the presence or absence of five defined markers for MSCs: CD90+, CD105+, CD45-, CD34- and CD79. The correlations between markers were evaluated and analyzed with a Pearson's correlation test. We found that the average percentage of cells expressing the combination of markers CD90+, CD105+, CD45-, CD34- and CD79- was 0.54%, and that the average percentage average of CD271+ cells was 0.53%. The results were significant (p<0.05). The exclusive use of CD271 as a marker for MSCs from fresh samples of bone marrow appears to be highly selective. Using CD271 as the sole identification marker for MSCs could reduce costs and accelerate the process of identifying MSCs for the field of cellular therapy.

Effect of D-limonene on immune response in BALB/c mice with lymphoma.

The monoterpene D-limonene and its metabolites have been shown to exert chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activities against different tumors in animal models and clinical trials. However, it is unknown whether these compounds modulate the immune response in tumor-bearing mice. We evaluated the survival of lymphoma-bearing mice fed with a diet with D-limonene. To assess the cell immune response, we sensitized and challenged BALB/c mice with 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) and evaluated the T-cell subpopulations by flow cytometry. We also examined phagocytosis, microbicidal activity and chemotactic function in peritoneal macrophages. In order to know the role of D-limonene and its metabolites, macrophage NO production and lymphocyte proliferation studies were performed in vitro with D-limonene, perillic acid and perillyl alcohol. The results showed that D-limonene increased the survival of lymphoma-bearing mice, delayed hypersensitivity reaction to DNFB, phagocytosis and microbicidal activity. In vitro studies indicate that D-limonene increased NO production in peritoneal macrophages obtained from tumor-bearing mice. Our data suggest that in addition to reported properties, D-limonene modulates the immune response with significant potential for clinical application.