Legumes in combination with other products are the staple food for a large part of the world population, especially the low-income fragment, because their seeds provide valuable amounts of carbohydrates, fiber, and proteins, and have an important composition of essential amino acids, the sulphured amino acids being the limiting ones. Furthermore, legumes also have nonnutritional compounds that may decrease the absorption of nutrients or produce toxic effects; however, it has been reported that depending on the dose, these nonnutritional compounds also have different bioactivities as antioxidant, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, and anticarcinogenic agents, which have been proven in scientific studies. It has been observed that in countries with a high consumption of legumes, the incidence of colorectal cancer is lower. Some studies have shown that legume seeds are an alternative chemopreventive therapy against various cancers especially colon; this was verified in various animal models of induced by azoxymethane, a colon specific carcinogenic compound, in which a diet was supplemented with different concentrations of beans, lentils, chickpeas, or soybeans, mostly. These studies have proven the anticancer activity of legumes in early stages of carcinogenesis. Therefore, it is important to review the information available to elucidate the chemopreventive mechanisms of action of legume compounds.

Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a powerful nuclear transcription factor that coordinates an antioxidant cytoprotector system complex stimulated by the increase in inoxidative stress (OS). In the present manuscript, we conduct a review on the evidence that shows the effect different modalities of physical exercise exert on the antioxidant metabolic response directed by Nrf2. During physical exercise, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) are increased; therefore, if the endogenous and exogenous antioxidant defenses are unable to control the elevation of ROS, the resulting OS triggers the activation of the transcriptional factor Nrf2 to induce the antioxidant response. On a molecular basis related to physical exercise, hormesis maintenance (exercise preconditioning) and adaptative changes in training are supported by a growing body of evidence, which is important for detailing the health benefits that involve greater resistance to environmental aggressions, better tolerance to constant changes, and increasing the regenerative capacity of the cells in such a way that it may be used as a tool to support the prevention or treatment of diseases. This may have clinical implications for future investigations regarding physical exercise in terms of understanding adaptations in high-performance athletes but also as a therapeutic model in several diseases.

Background: Beta-sitosterol (BS) is a compound discovered to be present in numerous plants. A number of interesting biomedical properties have been attributed to BS, including immuno-modulating and anti-inflammatory activities. Therefore, the aim of this report was to evaluate its anti-inflammatory capacity by applying various rodent experimental tests. Methods. To carry out the objective of the study we applied the methods indicated here. Two of the adopted methods were based on the passive reverse Arthus reaction: the rat paw edema test and the rat pleurisy assay. We also applied two methods related with the non-specific acute inflammation: the mouse ear edema test, and the mouse mieloperoxidase activity assay. Results. The results obtained in all tests established a significant anti-inflammatory potential of BS. In the rat paw edema test we found an inhibitory effect which goes from 50-70%; in the rat pleurisy assay our findings with respect to the volume of pleural exuded showed a reduction of 46%, as well as a 20% low amount of neutrophils in comparison with the level of the control group. In the mouse ear edema test we found a mean inflammatory inhibition of 75%, and with respect to mieloproxidase activity the results showed a significant inhibition induced by the three doses of BS. Conclusions. In the present study we determined a potent anti-inflammatory capacity of BS in specific and nonspecific types of acute inflammation in rodents.

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Plants belonging to the genus Opuntia spp. are the most abundant of the Cactaceae family, grown throughout America and the Mediterranean central area. Its fruit, known as cactus pear or prickly pear, is an oval berry grouped in different colors. Some studies have shown its antioxidant activities which may help in preventing chronic pathologies such as diabetes. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of three varieties of prickly pear juice (red-purple, white-green and yellow-orange) in five different concentrations (100, 250, 500, 750, and 1000 mg/mL) by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical) colorimetric method, selecting the best variety to determine its anticlastogenic potential against methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). The results indicate that the highest antioxidant was found in the juice of the prickly pear red-purple variety (PPRP), in all concentrations. Its anticlastogenic potential was therefore evaluated with a micronucleus assay. The experiment was run over two weeks. A negative control was included along with a positive control with MMS (40 mg/kg), a group of mice treated with PPRP (25 mL/kg), and three groups with PPRP (in doses of 25, 16.5 and 8.3 mL/kg) plus the mutagen. The PPRP was administered daily by oral gavage and the MMS was injected intraperitoneally five days prior to the end of the experiment. Blood samples were obtained at 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h in order to determine the frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPE). The results indicated that PPRP is not a genotoxic agent, on the contrary, it may reduce the number of MNPE. In this regard, the PPRP showed an anticlastogenic effect directly proportional to its concentrations. Thus, the highest protection was obtained with a concentration of 25 mL/kg after 48 h of treatment.

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Beta-sitosterol (BS) and pteropodine (PT) are constituents of various plants with pharmacological activities potentially useful to man. The chemicals themselves possess biomedical properties related to the modulation of the immune and the nervous systems, as well as to the inflammatory process. Therefore, safety evaluation of the compounds is necessary in regard to their probable beneficial use in human health. The present study evaluates their genotoxic and cytotoxic potential by determining the capacity of the compounds to induce sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), or to alter cellular proliferation kinetics (CPK) and the mitotic index (MI) in mouse bone marrow cells. Besides, it also determines their capacity to increase the rate of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPE) in peripheral mouse blood, and the relationship polychromatic erythrocytes/normochromatic erythrocytes (PE/NE) as an index of cytotoxicity. For the first assay, four doses of each compound were tested: 200, 400, 600, and 1000 mg/kg in case of BS, and 100, 200, 300, and 600 mg/kg for PT. The results in regard to both agents showed no SCE increase induced by any of the tested doses, as well as no alteration in the CPK, or in the MI. With respect to the second assay, the results obtained with the two agents were also negative for both the MNPE and the PE/NE index along the daily evaluation made for four days. In the present study, the highest tested dose corresponded to 80% of the LD50 obtained for BS and to 78% in the case of PT. The results obtained establish that the studied agents have neither genotoxic nor cytotoxic effect on the model used, and therefore they encourage studies on their pharmacological properties.

Beta-sitosterol (BS) is a compound that has shown various activities potentially useful for human health. In the present study, we determined its antigenotoxic capacity and lymphocyte induction potential in mouse as well as its capacity to trap free radicals in vitro. BS, in doses from 200 to 1,000 mg/kg, was able to significantly reduce the frequency of sister chromatid exchanges induced by 10 mg/kg of doxorubicin (DX) in bone marrow cells. The same range of BS doses also gave rise to a strong reduction in the rate of micronucleated, polychromatic erythrocytes induced by DX. In addition, we determined an increase in the production of lymphocytes in mice administered with BS. By means of the DPPH assay, the compound was shown to trap free radicals in a concentration dependent manner as high as 78.12% using 250 mug/ml. Our research established three relevant biological activities of BS which show its potential as a chemopreventive agent.