Many species of the Asteraceae family are used in traditional Mexican medicine for possessing healing properties. Ageratina pichinchensis (Asteraceae) is a plant used for the treatment of gastric ulcers, deep wounds and for its antifungal effects. The aim of this study was to establish a cell suspension culture of A. pichinchensis, quantify the anti-inflammatory constituents 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran and 3-epilupeol, to evaluate the anti-inflammatory potential of its extracts and perform a phytochemical analysis. Cell suspension cultures were established in MS culture medium supplemented with 30 g L-1 sucrose and 1.0 g L-1 α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) plus 0.1 mg L-1 6-furfurylaminopurine (KIN). The ethyl acetate extracts of cell suspension cultures analyzed by GC revealed that the maximum production of compounds The anti-inflammatory activity of these extracts exhibited significant inhibition of NO production. Furthermore, the phytochemical study of EtOAc and MeOH extracts of the biomass on day 20 led to the identification of 17 known compounds. The structures of compounds were assigned by analysis of 1D and 2D NMR data and the remainder by GC-MS. This is the first report of the production of the (-)-Artemesinol, (-)-Artemesinol glucoside, Encecalin and 3,5-diprenyl-acetophenone compounds by a cell suspension cultures of A. pichinchensis.

This work reports the isolation, purification, and anti-inflammatory evaluation of compounds from the plant species Ageratina pichinchesis. Using open-column chromatography, 11 known compounds were purified, whose chemical structures were elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance techniques (1D and 2D). All compounds were evaluated in the in vitro model of RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cells measuring nitric oxide inhibition as a determination of the anti-inflammatory effect. Outstandingly, the compound betuletol 3-O-β-glucoside (11) exhibited inhibition of nitric oxide with an IC50 of 75.08 ± 3.07% at 75 µM, additionally, it inhibited the secretion of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and activation of nuclear factor (NF-kβ). These results show that compound 11 could be considered as a potential anti-inflammatory agent in suppressing the expression of NF-kβ target genes such as the proinflammatory pathway and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Consequently, the medicinal use attributed in traditional medicine to the A. pichinchensis species is due to the diversity of compounds that the plant biosynthesizes, demonstrating that its effect relates to anti-inflammatory effects associated with compound 11.

: The cytotoxic effect of four extracts obtained from the wild plant and two from a culture of Ag-eratina pichinchensis calluses on cell lines: prostate carcinoma, cervical cancer, hepatocellular car-cinoma, human hepatoma, lung cancer and cellular keratinocytes was evaluated; the extracts were obtained with ethyl acetate and methanol, leaves and stems were used from the wild plant. The results of the cytotoxic evaluation showed that only the ethyl acetate extract obtained from the callus culture showed an effect on the cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) with an IC50 of 94.79 ± 2.0 µg/mL. The purification of this extract allowed obtaining a benzofuran type compound as the main product, which was identified as 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran. The cytotoxic evaluation of this compound showed an important effect against the HeLa cell line with an IC50 of 23.86 ± 2. .5µg/mL. These results contribute to the development of alternatives for the production of com-pounds for the treatment of cancer.

: Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world; its production is based mainly on varieties of the Coffea arabica species. Mexico stands out for its specialty and organic coffee. In Guerrero the production is given by small indigenous community’s cooperatives that market their product as raw material. Official Mexican Standards stipulate the necessary requirements for its commercialization within the national ter-ritory. In this work, the physical, chemical, and biological characterizations of green, medium, and dark roasted beans from C. arabica varieties were carried out. Analysis of HPLC showed higher chlorogenic acid (55 mg/g) and caffeine (1.8 mg/g) contents in the green beans of the Bourbon and Oro Azteca varieties. The caffeine (3.88 mg/g) and melanoidins (97 and 29 mg/g) contents increased according to the level of roasting; a dissimilar effect was found in the chlorogenic acid content (14.5 mg/g). The adequate nutritional content and the sensory evaluation allowed the classification of dark roasted as premium coffee (84.25 points) and the roasted medium as specialty coffee (86.25 points). The roasted coffees presented antioxidant activity without cytotoxic effect. The results obtained will serve as a basis for making decisions on the improvements of the coffees analyzed.

Eysenhardtia platycarpa (Fabaceae) is a medicinal plant used in México and it lacks biotechnological studies for its use. The aim of this work was to establish a cell suspension cultures (CSC) of E. platycarpa, determine the phytochemical profile, and evaluate its antifungal activity. Friable callus and CSC were established with 2 mg/L 1-naphthaleneacetic acid plus 0.1 mg/L kinetin. The highest total phenolics of CSC was 15.6 mg GAE/g dry weight and the total flavonoids content ranged from 56.2 to 104.1 µg QE/g dry weight. CG‒MS analysis showed that the dichloromethane extracts of CSC, sapwood and heartwood have a high amount of hexadecanoic acid (22.3 ‒ 35.3 %) and steroids (13.5 ‒ 14.7%). Heartwood and sapwood defatted hexane extracts have the highest amount of stigmasterol (≈ 23.4%) and β-sitosterol (≈ 43%), and leaf extracts presented β-amyrin (16.3%). Methanolic leaves extracts showed mostly sugars and some polyols, mainly D-pinitol (74.3%). Dichloromethane and fatty hexane extracts of CSC exhibited the percentages inhibition higher for Sclerotium cepivorum with 71.5 and 62.0%, respectively. The maximum inhibition for Rhizoctonia solani was with fatty hexane extracts of the sapwood (51.4%). Our study suggest that CSC extracts could be used as a possible complementary alternative to synthetic fungicides.

(1) Background: Treatment of male stress incontinence in patients with prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy and adjuvant pelvic radiation is a therapeutic challenge. The efficacy and safety of the adjustable trans-obturator male system (ATOMS) in these patients is not well established, despite the general belief that outcomes are worse than in patients without radiation. (2) Methods: Retrospective multicenter study evaluating patients treated with silicone-covered scrotal port (SSP) ATOMS implant after radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy in nine different institutions between 2016 and 2022. The primary endpoint was dry patient rate, defined as pad-test ≤20 mL/day. The secondary endpoints were complication rate (defined using Clavien-Dindo classification), device removal and self-perceived satisfaction using the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) scale. Wilcoxon rank sum test, Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression were performed using stepwise method with a 0.15 entry and 0.1 stay criteria. (3) Results: 223 patients fulfilled criteria for inclusion, 12 (5.4%) had received salvage prostatectomy after radiation and 27 (12.1%) previous devices for stress incontinence. After ATOMS adjustment, 95 patients (42.6%) were dry and 36 (16.1%) had complications of any grade (grade I, n=20; grade II, n=11; grade III, n=5) during the first 3 months postoperatively. At a mean 36 ± 21 months follow-up the device was explanted in 26 (11.7%) patients. Regarding self-perceived satisfaction with the implant, 105 of 125 patients (84%) considered themselves satisfied (PGI-I 1 to 3). In univariate analysis dryness was associated to younger age (p=.06), primary prostatectomy (p=.08), no previous incontinence surgery (p=.02), absence of overactive bladder symptoms (p=.04), absence of bladder neck stricture (p=.001), no need of surgical revision (p=.008) and lower baseline incontinence severity (p=.0003). Multivariate analysis identified absence of surgical revision (p=.018), absence of bladder neck stricture (p=.05), primary prostatectomy (p=.07) and baseline incontinence severity (p<.0001) were independent predictors of dryness. A logistic regression model was proposed and internally validated. (4) Conclusions: ATOMS is an efficacious and safe alternative to treat male incontinence after radical prostatectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy. Factors predictive of dryness are identified in this complex scenario to allow better patient selection.