Ziziphus mistol fruit extracts inhibit wnt/B-catenin signaling pathway in Xenopus embryos

GABRIELA C. SOMAINI; MANUEL J. AYBAR; NANCY VERA; CELESTE TRÍBULO

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 10th Meeting of the Latin American Society of Developmental Biology; 2019

wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway has a key role in development but its overactivation in adult tissues leads to carcinogenic processes. Some natural compounds are able to modulate this pathway and have the potential to be used as anticancer substances. We have performed a series of in vivo experiments in Xenopus embryos to determine the role of natural extracts derived from Ziziphus mistol fruits as regulators of wnt/beta-catenin pathway. We used Ziziphus mistol aqueous extract (ZmAE), chloroform extract (ZmChE) and ethyl acetate extract (ZmAcE). Our previous results demonstrated that these extracts were able to induce ventralized phenotypes compatible with wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway inhibition. In this work we determined that the extracts reverse the effect of BIO, a wtn/b-catenin activator. Embryos cultured with BIO and the Ziziphus mistol extracts were scored by the dorso-anterior index (DAI). A higher DAI indicates a higher rate of dorso-anteriorized embryos. The extracts reduced the DAI produced by BIO. Besides, we demonstrated that the extracts decreased the expression of b-catenin target gene Xnr3 and the organizer marker chordin (chd). The inhibitory effect was also reflected in the capacity of the extracts to decrease the levels of b-catenin in whole embryos Taken together, our results demonstrate that these natural extracts act as inhibitors of wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway with the potential to be used as modulators of this pathway in cancer processes.