Background Thevetia peruviana (Pers.) K. Schum or Cascabela peruviana (L.) Lippold (commonly known as ayoyote, codo de fraile, lucky nut, or yellow oleander), native to Mexico and Central America, is a medicinal plant used traditionally to cure diseases like ulcers, scabies, hemorrhoids and dissolve tumors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic, antiproliferative and apoptotic activity of methanolic extract of T. peruviana fruits on human cancer cell lines.MethodsThe cytotoxic activity of T. peruviana methanolic extract was carried out on human breast, colorectal, prostate and lung cancer cell lines and non-tumorigenic control cells (fibroblast and Vero), using the MTT assay. For proliferation and motility, clonogenic and wound-healing assays were performed. Morphological alterations were monitored by trypan blue exclusion, as well as DNA fragmentation and AO/EB double staining was performed to evaluate apoptosis. The extract was separated using flash chromatography, and the resulting fractions were evaluated on colorectal cancer cells for their cytotoxic activity. The active fractions were further analyzed through mass spectrometry.ResultsThe T. peruviana methanolic extract exhibited cytotoxic activity on four human cancer cell lines: prostate, breast, colorectal and lung, with values of IC50 1.91 ± 0.76, 5.78 ± 2.12, 6.30 ± 4.45 and 12.04 ± 3.43 μg/mL, respectively. The extract caused a significant reduction of cell motility and colony formation on all evaluated cancer cell lines. In addition, morphological examination displayed cell size reduction, membrane blebbing and detachment of cells, compared to non-treated cancer cell lines. The T. peruviana extract induced apoptotic cell death, which was confirmed by DNA fragmentation and AO/EB double staining. Fractions 4 and 5 showed the most effective cytotoxic activity and their MS analysis revealed the presence of the secondary metabolites: thevetiaflavone and cardiac glycosides.Conclusion T. peruviana extract has potential as natural anti-cancer product with critical effects in the proliferation, motility, and adhesion of human breast and colorectal cancer cells, and apoptosis induction in human prostate and lung cancer cell lines, with minimal effects on non-tumorigenic cell lines.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-017-1727-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract

No abstract

Highly branched neo-fructans (agavins) are natural prebiotics found in Agave plants, with a large capacity to mitigate the development of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Here, we investigated the impact of agavins intake on gut microbiota modulation and their metabolites as well as their effect on metabolic endotoxemia and low-grade inflammation in mice fed high-fat diet. Mice were fed with a standard diet (ST) and high-fat diet (HF) alone or plus an agavins supplement (HF+A) for ten weeks. Gut microbiota composition, fecal metabolite profiles, lipopolysaccharides (LPS), pro-inflammatory cytokines, and systemic effects were analyzed. Agavins intake induced substantial changes in gut microbiota composition, enriching Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Prevotella, Allobaculum, and Akkermansia genus (LDA > 3.0). l-leucine, l-valine, uracil, thymine, and some fatty acids were identified as possible biomarkers for this prebiotic supplement. As novel findings, agavins supplementation significantly decreased LPS and pro-inflammatory (IL-1α, IL-1β, and TNF-α; p < 0.05) cytokines levels in portal vein. In addition, lipid droplets content in the liver and adipocytes size also decreased with agavins consumption. In conclusion, agavins supplementation mitigate metabolic endotoxemia and low-grade inflammation in association with gut microbiota regulation and their metabolic products, thus inducing beneficial responses on metabolic disorders in high-fat diet-fed mice.