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The antimicrobial effects of the Mexican medicinal plants Guazuma ulmifolia, Justicia spicigera, Opuntia joconostle, O. leucotricha, Parkinsonia aculeata, Phoradendron longifolium, P. serotinum, Psittacanthus calyculatus, Tecoma stans and Teucrium cubense were tested against several human multi-drug resistant pathogens, including three Gram (+) and five Gram (-) bacterial species and three fungal species using the disk-diffusion assay. The cytotoxicity of plant extracts on human cancer cell lines and human normal non-cancerous cells was also evaluated using the MTT assay. Phoradendron longifolium, Teucrium cubense, Opuntia joconostle, Tecoma stans and Guazuma ulmifolia showed potent antimicrobial effects against at least one multidrug-resistant microorganism (inhibition zone > 15 mm). Only Justicia spicigera and Phoradendron serotinum extracts exerted active cytotoxic effects on human breast cancer cells (IC 50 ≤30 µg/mL). The results showed that Guazuma ulmifolia produced potent antimicrobial effects against Candida albicans and Acinetobacter lwoffii, whereas Justicia spicigera and Phoradendron serotinum exerted the highest toxic effects on MCF-7 and HeLa, respectively, which are human cancer cell lines. These three plant species may be important sources of antimicrobial and cytotoxic agents.

Isoorientin (ISO) is a plant C-glycosylflavonoid with purported antidiabetic effects but unexplored mechanisms of action. To gain insight into its antidiabetic mechanisms, we assayed nontoxic ISO concentrations on the 2-(N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1, 3-diazol-4-yl) amino)-2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-NBDG) uptake by murine 3T3-F442A and human sc adipocytes. In insulin-sensitive adipocytes, ISO stimulated the 2-NBDG uptake by 210% (murine) and 67% (human), compared with insulin treatment. Notably, ISO also induced 2-NBDG uptake in murine (139%) and human (60%) adipocytes made resistant to insulin by treatment with TNF-␣, compared with the incorporation induced in these cells by rosiglitazone. ISO induction of glucose uptake in adipocytes was abolished by inhibitors of the insulin signaling pathway. These inhibitors also blocked the proper phosphorylation of insulin signaling pathway components induced by ISO in both insulin-sensitive and insulinresistant adipocytes. Additionally, ISO stimulated the transcription of genes encoding components of insulin signaling pathway in murine insulin-sensitive and insulin-resistant adipocytes. In summary, we show here that ISO exerts its antidiabetic effects by activating the insulin signaling pathway in adipocytes, reverts the insulin resistance caused in these cells by TNF-␣ by stimulating the proper phosphorylation of proteins in this signaling pathway, and induces the expression of genes encoding these proteins. (Endocrinology 153: 5222-5230, 2012)

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