Irene Perea-Arango, Pilar Nuñez, Patricia Castillo-España, Jesús Arellano García and Samuel E Estrada-Soto
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, México
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Nat Prod Chem Res
Swietenia humilis Zucc, a timber species that traditionally has been used to treat diabetes mellitus (seed and bark) in Mexico. S. humilis is considered an endangered species due to its overexploitation for commercial use, slow growth rate and scattered population. In vitro culture techniques such as somatic embryogenesis will allow the mass propagation of abundant plant material and could be the basis to establish a micropropagation protocol potentially useful in conservation programs and the study of bioactive compounds. The main objective of this project was the induction of somatic embryos of S. humilis and to compare the antidiabetic activity between in vitro propagated and wild plant. The effect of phytohormones 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and kinetin were evaluated in the morphogenesis of S. humilis in different explants. It was used as primary explants immature zygotic embryos, immature and mature seeds. These explants were cultured in Murashige & Skoog medium supplemented with nutrients to promote the formation of somatic embryos and were incubated in darkness at a temperature of 25+2 °C. Our results showed that the treatments of 2,4-D (1 mg.L-1 or 4 mg.L-1)-kinetin (0.5 mg.L-1 promoted the formation of somatic embryos. A preliminary phytochemical screening of dichloromethane and methanolic extracts indicated the presence of the following compounds: Alkaloids, coumarins, cardiotonic and flavonoids in all extracts; also the presence of saponins, terpenes and tannins in some extracts. Pharmacological studies of these extracts in mouse model of Non-Insulin-Dependent-Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) showed an anti-diabetic activity compared with glibenclamide.
Email: iperea@uaem.mx
