The roots of the
cactus
Peniocereus greggii
, which
grows in Northern Mexico and in the south of Arizona, are highly valued
by the Pima to treat diabetes and other illnesses, such as breast
pain and common cold. As part of our chemical and pharmacological
investigation on medicinal plants used for treating diabetes, herein
we report the hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic action of a decoction
prepared from the roots of the plant. The active compounds were a
series of cholestane steroids, namely, peniocerol (
2
),
desoxyviperidone (
3
), viperidone (
4
), and
viperidinone (
5
). Also, a new chemical entity was obtained
from an alkalinized chloroform extract (CE1), which was characterized
as 3,6-dihydroxycholesta-5,8(9),14-trien-7-one (
6
) by
spectroscopic means. Desoxyviperidone (
3
) showed an antihyperglycemic
action during an oral glucose tolerance test. Compound
3
was also able to decrease blood glucose levels during an intraperitoneal
insulin tolerance test in hyperglycemic mice only in combination with
insulin, thus behaving as an insulin sensitizer agent. Nevertheless,
mitochondrial bioenergetic experiments revealed that compounds
3
and
6
increased basal respiration and proton
leak, without affecting the respiration associated with ATP production
in C2C12 myotubes. Finally, an ultraefficiency liquid chromatographic
method for quantifying desoxyviperidone (
3
) and viperidone
(
4
) in the crude drug was developed and validated. Altogether,
our results demonstrate that
Peniocereus greggii
decoction
possesses a hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic action in vivo, that
sterols
2
and
6
promotes insulin secretion
in vitro, and that desoxyviperidone (
3
) physiologically
behaves as an insulin sensitizer agent by a mechanism that may involve
mitochondrial proton leak.