New alternatives for the treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) are urgently needed and medicinal plants represent a potential option. Chamaedora tepejilote and Lantana hispida are medicinal plants from Mexico and their hexanic extracts have shown antimycobacterial activity. Bioguided investigation of these extracts showed that the active compounds were ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA).

Persea americana seeds are widely used in traditional Mexican medicine to treat rheumatism, asthma, infectious processes as well as diarrhea and dysentery caused by intestinal parasites. The chloroformic and ethanolic extracts of P. americana seeds were prepared by maceration and their amoebicidal, giardicidal and trichomonicidal activity was evaluated. These extracts were also tested against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, four mono-resistant and two multidrug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis as well as five non tuberculosis mycobacterium strains by MABA assay. The chloroformic and ethanolic extracts of P. americana seeds showed significant activity against E. histolytica, G. lamblia and T. vaginalis (IC50 <0.634 μg/ml). The chloroformic extract inhibited the growth of M. tuberculosis H37Rv, M. tuberculosis MDR SIN 4 isolate, three M. tuberculosis H37Rv mono-resistant reference strains and four non tuberculosis mycobacteria (M. fortuitum, M. avium, M. smegmatis and M. absessus) showing MIC values ≤50 μg/ml. Contrariwise, the ethanolic extract affected only the growth of two mono-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis H37Rv and M. smegmatis (MIC ≤50 μg/ml). The CHCl3 and EtOH seed extracts from P. americana showed amoebicidal and giardicidal activity. Importantly, the CHCl3 extract inhibited the growth of a MDR M. tuberculosis isolate and three out of four mono-resistant reference strains of M. tuberculosis H37Rv, showing a MIC = 50 μg/ml. This extract was also active against the NTM strains, M. fortuitum, M. avium, M. smegmatis and M. abscessus, with MIC values <50 μg/ml.

Obesity is characterized by the excessive accumulation of fat, which triggers a low-grade chronic inflammatory process. Currently, the search for compounds with anti-obesogenic effects that help reduce body weight, as well as associated comorbidities, continues. Among this group of compounds are plant extracts and flavonoids with a great diversity of action mechanisms associated with their beneficial effects, such as anti-inflammatory effects and/or as signaling molecules. In the bark of Tabebuia rosea tree, there are different classes of metabolites with anti-inflammatory properties, such as quercetin. Therefore, the present work studied the effect of the ethanolic extract of T. rosea and quercetin on the mRNA of inflammation markers in obesity compared to the drugs currently used. Total RNA was extracted from epididymal adipose tissue of high-fat diet-induced obese Wistar rats treated with orlistat, phentermine, T. rosea extract, and quercetin. The rats treated with T. rosea and quercetin showed 36 and 31% reductions in body weight compared to the obese control, and they likewise inhibited pro-inflammatory molecules: Il6, Il1b, Il18, Lep, Hif1a, and Nfkb1 without modifying the expression of Socs1 and Socs3. Additionally, only T. rosea overexpressed Lipe. Both T. rosea and quercetin led to a reduction in the expression of pro-inflammatory genes, modifying signaling pathways, which led to the regulation of the obesity-inflammation state.

Objective: To investigate the antihyperglycaemic activity of laser acupuncture stimulation at 650 and 980 nm at BL20 in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methods: Seventy healthy adult male albino Wistar rats weighing 250±50 g were divided into seven groups of 10 animals each. Groups I–III comprised healthy control rats which were untreated (I) or stimulated with laser acupuncture at 650 nm (II) and 980 nm (III), respectively. Groups IV–VII underwent induction of diabetes with a single intraperitoneal administration of STZ at 50 mg/kg. Animals with blood glucose levels of ≥200 mg/dL on the fifth day were used for the experiments and were left untreated (group IV), treated with glibenclamide (group V) or stimulated with laser acupuncture at 650 nm (group VI) and 980 nm (group VII), respectively. Laser acupuncture was applied at BL20 on alternate days for a total of 12 sessions over a 28-day period. Results: After 28 days of treatment, STZ-induced diabetic rats stimulated with laser acupuncture at 650 and 980 nm had significantly lower glucose levels compared with untreated diabetic rats (242.0±65.0 and 129.8±33.2 vs 376.5±10.0 mg/dL, both p≤0.05). Treatment at 980 nm also attenuated the increase in glucose between day 1 and day 28 compared with the glibenclamide-treated diabetic group (41.5±19.6 mg/dL vs 164.1±13.7 g/dL, p<0.05). Laser acupuncture treatment did not affect the blood count or biochemical profile and was not associated with any morphological changes in the pancreas, liver, kidney or spleen. Conclusions: Stimulation with laser acupuncture at 650 and 980 nm at BL20 in STZ-induced diabetic rats has antihyperglycaemic activity. The results support further evaluation of laser acupuncture as an alternative or complementary treatment for the control of hyperglycaemia.

Echinacea spp. displays different biological activities, such as antiviral, immunomodulatory, and anticancer activities. Currently, high sales of hydroalcoholic extracts of Echinacea have been repo...