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; Latin American Society for Developmental Biology 2019 Meeting; 2019

LASDB

wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway has a key role in development but its overactivation in adult tissues leads to carcinogenic processes. Some naturalcompounds are able to modulate this pathway and have the potential to be usedas anticancer substances. We have performed a series of in vivo experiments inXenopus embryos to determine the role of natural extracts derived from Ziziphusmistol fruits as regulators of wnt/beta-catenin pathway. We used Ziziphus mistolaqueous extract (ZmAE), chloroform extract (ZmChE) and ethyl acetate extract(ZmAcE). Our previous results demonstrated that these extracts were able toinduce ventralized phenotypes compatible with wnt/β-catenin signaling pathwayinhibition. 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.