Polyphenolic compounds of Phyllanthus amarus Schum & Thonn. (1827) and diabetes-related activity of an aqueous extract as affected by in vitro gastrointestinal digestion.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Extracts of the aerial part of Phyllanthus amarus have been extensively used in several countries to cure diabetes. No data is available on the impact of gastrointestinal digestion of such crude extracts on their antidiabetic activity.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of this study was to identify active fractions and compounds of fresh aerial parts of P.

A Multivariate Approach to Ethnopharmacology: Antidiabetic Plants of Eeyou Istchee.

An ethnopharmacological metanalysis was conducted with a large database available on antidiabetic activities of plant foods and medicines from the northern boreal forest, which are traditionally used by the indigenous Cree of James Bay, Quebec, Canada. The objective was to determine which bioassays are closely associated with the traditional knowledge of the Cree and which pharmacological metrics and phytochemical signals best define these plants and their groups. Data from 17 plant species, ethnobotanically ranked by syndromic importance value for treatment of 15 diabetic symptoms, was used along with 49 bioassay endpoints reported across numerous pharmacological studies and a metabolomics dataset.

Evaluation of the antidiabetic potential of Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae) using assays for α-glucosidase, α-amylase, muscle glucose uptake, liver glucose production, and triglyceride accumulation in adipocytes.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae) leaves are used as an herbal antidiabetic remedy in several parts of the world. On Madagascar, both the bark and leaves are used for treatment of diabetes.

Further isolation and identification of anti-diabetic principles from root bark of Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv.: The ethyl acetate fraction contains bioactive phenolic compounds that improve liver cell glucose homeostasis.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: We recently reported that ethanol extract of Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv. root bark demonstrated antidiabetic activity by modulating hepatocyte glucose homeostasis.

Growth environment and organ specific variation in in-vitro cytoprotective activities of Picea mariana in PC12 cells exposed to glucose toxicity: a plant used for treatment of diabetes symptoms by the Cree of Eeyou Istchee (Quebec, Canada).

Background: The Cree of Eeyou Istchee (James Bay area of northern Quebec) suffer from a high rate of diabetes and its complications partly due to the introduction of the western lifestyle within their culture. As part of a search for alternative medicine based on traditional practice, this project evaluates the biological activity of Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.

Multi-target antidiabetic mechanisms of mexicanolides from Swietenia humilis.

Background: Swietenia humilis seeds are consumed in Mexico to treat type 2 diabetes; the antihyperglycemic effect of this species was previously demonstrated and related to the presence of tetranortriterpenoids of the mexicanolide class.

Purpose And Study Design: The present investigation was conducted to determine the mechanism of action of selected mexicanolides, including 2-hydroxy-destigloyl-6-deoxyswietenine acetate (1), methyl-2-hydroxy-3-β-tigloyloxy-1-oxomeliac-8(30)-enate (2) and humilinolide H (3), using in vivo experiments with hyperglycemic mice, and cell-based models.

Methods: Nicotinamide-streptozotocin hyperglycemic mice (50-130 mg/kg, i.

Bioactive Pentacyclic Triterpenes from the Root Bark Extract of Myrianthus arboreus, a Species Used Traditionally to Treat Type-2 Diabetes.

Four new Δ ursene-type pentacyclic triterpenes containing the trans-feruloyl moiety (1-4), along with ursolic acid (5), were isolated from a Myrianthus arboreus root bark ethanol extract, after bioassay-guided subfractionation of its hexane fraction. The structures of 1-4 were established on the basis of the results of standard spectroscopic analytical methods (IR, HRESIMS, GC-MS, 1D and 2D NMR). The compounds 3β- O- trans-feruloyl-2α,19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid (1), 2α-acetoxy-3β- O- trans-feruloyl-19α-hydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid (3), and 5 were determined to decrease the activity of hepatocellular glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and to activate glycogen synthase (GS).

Anti-apoptotic potential of several antidiabetic medicinal plants of the eastern James Bay Cree pharmacopeia in cultured kidney cells.

Background: Our team has identified 17 Boreal forest species from the traditional pharmacopeia of the Eastern James Bay Cree that presented promising in vitro and in vivo biological activities in the context of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We now screened the 17 plants extracts for potential anti-apoptotic activity in cultured kidney cells and investigated the underlying mechanisms.

Methods: MDCK (Madin-Darnby Canine Kidney) cell damage was induced by hypertonic medium (700 mOsm/L) in the presence or absence of maximal nontoxic concentrations of each of the 17 plant extracts.

Root bark extracts of Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv. (Cecropiaceae) exhibit anti-diabetic potential by modulating hepatocyte glucose homeostasis.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv. is a tropical tree used in African folk medicine, including for diabetes.

Investigation of antidiabetic potential of Phyllanthus niruri L. using assays for α-glucosidase, muscle glucose transport, liver glucose production, and adipogenesis.

Phyllanthus niruri is used in herbal medicine for treatment of diabetes. The objective of this study was to investigate the antidiabetic potential of P. niruri, using assays for α-glucosidase, muscle glucose transport, liver glucose production and adipogenesis.

Caffeic acid methyl and ethyl esters exert potential antidiabetic effects on glucose and lipid metabolism in cultured murine insulin-sensitive cells through mechanisms implicating activation of AMPK.

Context: Caffeic acid methyl (CAME) and ethyl (CAEE) esters stimulate glucose uptake and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in C2C12 myocytes (ATCC CRL-1772).

Objective: Effects of CAME and CAEE were now assessed on myocyte glucose transporter GLUT4 activity and expression, on hepatic gluconeogenesis and on adipogenesis as well as major underlying signaling pathways.

Materials And Methods: GLUT4 protein translocation was studied in L6 GLUT4myc cells, glucose-6-phospatase (G6Pase) in H4IIE hepatocytes and adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Significance of Microbiota in Obesity and Metabolic Diseases and the Modulatory Potential by Medicinal Plant and Food Ingredients.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of three or more metabolic disorders including insulin resistance, obesity, and hyperlipidemia. Obesity has become the epidemic of the twenty-first century with more than 1.6 billion overweight adults.

Phenolic compounds isolated from fermented blueberry juice decrease hepatocellular glucose output and enhance muscle glucose uptake in cultured murine and human cells.

Background: We recently reported that blueberry juice fermented (FJ) with Serratia vaccinii bacterium has antidiabetic activities both in vivo and in vitro. The purpose of this project was to elucidate the effect of FJ on glucose homeostasis in liver and skeletal muscle cells and to identify active fractions/compounds responsible for this effect.

Methods: FJ was fractionated using standard chromatography procedures.

The fatty acid-rich fraction of Eruca sativa (rocket salad) leaf extract exerts antidiabetic effects in cultured skeletal muscle, adipocytes and liver cells.

Context: Eruca sativa Mill. (Brassicaceae), commonly known as rocket salad, is a popular leafy-green vegetable with many health benefits.

Objective: To evaluate the antidiabetic activities of this plant in major insulin-responsive tissues.

Fermented blueberry juice extract and its specific fractions have an anti-adipogenic effect in 3 T3-L1 cells.

Background: Obesity and Type 2 diabetes have reached epidemic status worldwide. Wild lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton) is a plant of the North American Aboriginal traditional pharmacopeia with antidiabetic potential, especially when it is fermented with Serratia vaccinii.

Methods: A phytochemical fractionation scheme was used to identify potential bioactive compounds as confirmed by HPLC retention times and UV-Vis spectra.

Phytogeographic and genetic variation in , a traditional antidiabetic medicine-adaptation in action in both a plant and a discipline.

Mountain ash ( and ) is used by the Cree Nation of the James Bay region of Quebec (Eeyou Istchee) as traditional medicine. Its potential as an antidiabetic medicine is thought to vary across its geographical range, yet little is known about the factors that affect its antioxidant capacity. Here, we examined metabolite gene expression in relation to antioxidant activity, linking phytochemistry and medicinal potential.

Larix laricina bark, a traditional medicine used by the Cree of Eeyou Istchee: Antioxidant constituents and in vitro permeability across Caco-2 cell monolayers.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Larix laricina, a native tree of North America, is a highly respected medicinal plant used for generations by Indigenous Peoples across its range, including the Cree of northern Québec who use the bark to treat symptoms of diabetes. This study investigates the antioxidant capacity and bioavailability of active constituents identified in L. laricina bark extracts.

The Antidiabetic Potential of Quercetin: Underlying Mechanisms.

The dramatic increase in modern lifestyle diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes has renewed researchers' interest to explore nature as a source of novel therapeutic agents. Flavonoids are a large group of polyphenols that are widely present in the human diet. They have shown promising therapeutic activities against a wide variety of ailments.

An HPLC-ELSD Method for the Determination of Triterpenes in Sorbus decora and Sorbus americana Bark Used by the Eeyou Istchee Cree First Nation.

Sorbus decora and Sorbus americana are used traditionally as medicine by the Eeyou Istchee Cree First Nation of the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada. Because the ethanol extracts of the bark and the isolated terpenes of these plants have shown promising in vivo antidiabetic effects, an analytical method was developed and validated by RP-HPLC-ELSD for the identification and quantification of eight lupane- and ursane-type terpenes. The extraction method reproducibly recovered the compounds above 70 % and the chromatographic separation of betulin, 23-hydroxy-betulin, 23,28-dihydroxylupan-20(29)-ene-3β-caffeate, betulinic acid, α-amyrin, uvaol, 3β,23,28-trihydroxy-12-ursene, and 23,28-dihydroxyursan-12-ene-3β-caffeate was achieved within 27 min by linear gradient.

Rhododendron groenlandicum (Labrador tea), an antidiabetic plant from the traditional pharmacopoeia of the Canadian Eastern James Bay Cree, improves renal integrity in the diet-induced obese mouse model.

Content Our team has identified Labrador tea [Rhododendron groenlandicum L. (Ericaceae)] as a potential antidiabetic plant from the traditional pharmacopoeia of the Eastern James Bay Cree. In a previous in vivo study, the plant extract was tested in a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese model using C57BL/6 mice and it improved glycaemia, insulinaemia and glucose tolerance.

Study of Polyphenol Content and Antioxidant Capacity of Myrianthus Arboreus (Cecropiaceae) Root Bark Extracts.

In order to evaluate the therapeutic potential of polyphenolic extracts from root bark of M. arboreus, we have determined the content of various polyphenols in aqueous and ethanol (EtOH) extract as well as two sub-fractions of the latter: ethyl acetate (EAc) and hexane (Hex). The total phenols, flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids and proanthocyanidins have been determined for all studied extracts/fractions by spectrophotometric methods.

A combination of (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin underlies the in vitro adipogenic action of Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum), an antidiabetic medicinal plant of the Eastern James Bay Cree pharmacopeia.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Rhododendron groenlandicum (Oeder) Kron & Judd (Labrador tea) was identified as an antidiabetic plant through an ethnobotanical study carried out with the close collaboration of Cree nations of northern Quebec in Canada.

Objectives: In a previous study the plant showed glitazone-like activity in a 3T3-L1 adipogenesis bioassay. The current study sought to identify the active compounds responsible for this potential antidiabetic activity using bioassay guided fractionation based upon an in vitro assay that measures the increase of triglycerides content in 3T3-L1 adipocyte.

Evaluation by microarray of the potential safety of Sarracenia purpurea L. (Sarraceniaceae) a traditional medicine used by the Cree of Eeyou Istchee.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess safety of the traditional antidiabetic extracts of either S. purpurea or its lead active principle, morroniside at the transcriptional level. The overarching objective was to profile and validate transcriptional changes in the cytochrome P450 family of genes, in response to treatment with S.

Phytochemical Comparison of the Water and Ethanol Leaf Extracts of the Cree medicinal plant, Sarracenia purpurea L. (Sarraceniaceae).

Purpose: The Cree of Eeyou Istchee in Northern Quebec identified Sarracenia purpurea L. as an important plant for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Traditionally the plant is used as a decoction (boiling water extract) of the leaf, however, in order to study the extract in a laboratory setting, an 80% ethanol extract was used.