Cyclolepis genistoides D. Don ("Palo azul" meaning "blue twig"; Palo) is an herb widely used for folk remedies against diabetes and renal diseases in Paraguay.
The EtOH extract of Palo has been previously reported that it induced the mRNA expressions of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and adiponectin in mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocytes.
Here, to identify bioactive substances in Palo, a newly EtOH extracted crude sample (Palo-E) was separated by liquid-liquid extractions, and the AcOEt fraction (Palo-A), CHCl₃ fraction (Palo-C), n-BuOH fraction (Palo-B), and water-soluble fraction (Palo-W) were obtained. 3T3-L1 cells were treated with each fraction 3 times in 7 days and total RNA was collected followed by mRNA expression levels of PPARγ and adiponectin were examined by RT-PCR.
As the results, treatment with the Palo-B and Palo-W fractions significantly increased mRNA expression of both PPARγ and adiponectin in 3T3-L1 cells, but Palo-A fraction did not show these effects. On the other hand, cell death was observed in the Palo-C fraction treated cells.
These results suggest that the Palo-B and Palo-W fractions are likely to contain bioactive substances, which need to be identified by further separations in near future.