Evaluation of the Antidiabetic and Antibacterial Activity of Cissus sicyoides

Abstract

In this work we investigated the antidiabetic and antibacterial effect of Cissus sicyoides (CS) from Brazil. Diabetic rats that received water (A group) or extracts from the aerial parts of the plant (Cs group) during four weeks were employed. After this period, serum levels of glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides were measured. Glycemia was not affected by treatment with CS. However, there was an increased cholesterol and triglyceride level in Cs group. In addition, bioassay-guided fractionation of methanolic extract from aerial parts of CS was performed for isolation of antibacterial compounds. β-Sitosterol and sitosterol-β-D-glucopyranoside isolated showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 50 µg/ml and 100 µg/ml, respectively. In spite of popular belief, CS did not show antidiabetic activity. However, two compounds isolated from aerial parts of the plant (β-sitosterol and sitosterol-β-D-glucopyranoside) showed antibacterial activity.

Antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of Tecoma stans against lung cancer cell line (A549)

“…The alcoholic and aqueous extract of T.stans on phytochemical analysis has revealed the presence of polyphenolic,ß-sitosterol and flavonoids. In earlier reports by Hamburger and Hostettmann (1991), Beltrame et al (2002) and Suffredimi et al (2004), these compounds have exhibited anti-bacterial, antiviral, immunological and cytotoxic property on different cancer cell lines.…”

Antimicrobial activity of some medicinal plants of the island Soqotra

“…Generally, among the investigated extracts the methanolic extracts exhibited the highest antibacterial effect followed by the chloroform extracts. The most pronounced activity with inhibition zones of more than 14 mm was shown by the methanolic extracts of Boswellia Although other species of the genera Boswellia (Adelakun et al, 2001), Buxus (Rahman et al, 1997), Commiphora (Asres et al, 1998), Jatropha (Aiyelaagbe et al, 2000), Punica (Machado et al, 2002), Withania (Budhiraja et al, 2000), Kalanchoe (Asiedu-Gyekye et al, 2002), Cissus (Beltrame et al, 2002) and Cleome (Samy et al, 1999) have been subjected to several studies and antimicrobial activities have been found, nothing is known about the species reported here. The results obtained in the course of the present study are in agreement to a certain degree with the traditional uses of the plants evaluated.…”

Bioactivity and potential therapeutic benefits of some medicinal plants from the Caatinga (semi-arid) vegetation of Northeast Brazil: a review of the literature

“…A previous study (Beltrame et al, 2002) showed that two compounds isolated from aerial parts of the plant (β-sitosterol and sitosterol-β-D-glucopyranoside) presented antibacterial activity, while the aqueous extract was able to contract isolated guinea-pig aortic rings by increasing the calcium entry through the membrane and mobilizing the internal calcium deposits (García et al, 1997). Aqueous extract was also shown to present cytostatic (Saenz et al, 2000), antinociceptive (Almeida et al 2006b) and anti-inflammatory (García et al, 2000) effects.…”