Evaluation of the Antidiabetic and Antibacterial Activity of Cissus sicyoides

In this work we investigated the antidiabetic and antibacterial effect of Cissus sicyoides (CS) from Brazil. Diabetic rats that received water (A group) or extracts from the aerial parts of the plant (Cs group) during four weeks were employed. After this period, serum levels of glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides were measured. Glycemia was not affected by treatment with CS. However, there was an increased cholesterol and triglyceride level in Cs group. In addition, bioassay-guided fractionation of methanolic extract from aerial parts of CS was performed for isolation of antibacterial compounds.beta-Sitosterol and sitosterol-beta-D-glucopyranoside isolated showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 50 mug/ml and 100 mug/ml, respectively. In spite of popular belief, CS did not show antidiabetic activity. However, two compounds isolated from aerial parts of the plant (beta-sitosterol and sitosterol-beta-D-glucopyranoside) showed antibacterial activity.