title: Screening native botanicals for bioactivity: an interdisciplinary approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Plant-based therapies have been used in medicine throughout recorded history. Information about the therapeutic properties of plants often can be found in local cultures as folk medicine is communicated from one generation to the next. The aim of this study was to identify native Louisiana plants from Creole folk medicine as a potential source of therapeutic compounds for the treatment of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and related disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used an interdisciplinary approach combining expertise in disciplines ranging from cultural anthropology and botany to biochemistry and endocrinology to screen native southwest Louisiana plants. Translation of accounts of Creole folk medicine yielded a list of plants with documented use in treating a variety of conditions, including inflammation. These plants were collected, vouchered, and catalogued before extraction of soluble components. Extracts were analyzed for bioactivity in regulating inflammatory responses in macrophages or fatty acid-induced insulin resistance in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several extracts altered gene expression of inflammatory markers in macrophages. Multiplex analysis of kinase activation in insulin-signaling pathways in skeletal muscle also identified a subset of extracts that alter insulin-stimulated protein kinase B phosphorylation in the presence of fatty-acid-induced insulin resistance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An interdisciplinary approach to screening botanical sources of therapeutic agents can be successfully applied to identify native plants used in folk medicine as potential sources of therapeutic agents in treating insulin resistance in skeletal muscle or inflammatory processes associated with obesity-related insulin resistance.
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: Anik
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boudreau
authors.affiliation: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Diana M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ribnicky
authors.affiliation: USGS National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Allain
authors.affiliation: University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: C Ray
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Brassieur
authors.affiliation: USGS National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: D Phil
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Turnipseed
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Cefalu
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. Electronic address: Elizabeth.Floyd@pbrc.edu.
authors.forename: Z Elizabeth
authors.initials: ZE
authors.lastname: Floyd
mesh_terms: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002460:Cell Line; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000473:pathology; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008145:Louisiana; D008264:Macrophages / Q000187:drug effects*; D019684:Magnoliopsida; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000187:drug effects*; D009765:Obesity / Q000473:pathology; D010766:Phosphorylation; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D005227:Fatty Acids; D010936:Plant Extracts; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
keywords: Ethnobotany; Inflammation; Metabolic syndrome; Obesity