Cuauhtemoc Pérez-González

By Roberto José Serrano Vega, Nimsi Campos Xolalpa, Angel Josabad Alonso Castro, Cuauhtémoc Pérez González, Julia Pérez Ramos and Salud Pérez Gutiérrez

The development and progression of many diseases is related with an inflammatory process, which could affect different organs or tissues. Currently, many drugs are used to treat inflammation. However, some of these compounds induce severe side effects. For this reason, the search of new therapeutic options for the treatment of inflammation is very desirable. Medicinal plants have been an interesting source for obtaining new active compounds, including several terpenes and terpenoids with anti-inflammatory activity. This book chapter includes 62 sesquiterpenes, 34 diterpenes, and 22 triterpenes with anti-inflammatory activity. The anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated using in vitro, in vivo, and both models. These terpenes were obtained from 44 plant species belonging to 25 botanical families. Eight of theses species belong to the Asteraceae family and four to Lamiaceae family, respectively, and the other species belong to 13 different botanical families, one sesquiterpene was obtained from a sponge and two diterpenes were isolated from corals.

Part of the book: Terpenes and Terpenoids

By Cuauhtémoc Pérez-González, Julia Pérez-Ramos, Carlos Alberto Méndez-Cuesta, Roberto Serrano-Vega, Miguel Martell-Mendoza and Salud Pérez-Gutiérrez

Cancer is considered one of the most lethal diseases in the world, with a prevalence of 439.2 cases and 163.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, in the period from 2011 to 2015; this disease has a greater impact in underdeveloped countries. For the treatment of this disease, a combination of chemotherapy with surgery or radiation is generally used, however, it is not exempt from adverse effects or resistance of the tumor to this type of treatment, for this reason the search for new treatments is constant. The plants are a possible source to achieve this; Lamiaceae is a family of plants widely distributed on the planet and has been used traditionally for the treatment of different diseases, and various essential oils with the potential for cancer treatment have been isolated from this species. The scope of this review is to present 46 essential oils isolated from different species of Lamiaceae which have been tested against different cancer cell lines.

Part of the book: Cytotoxicity

By Miguel Martell-Mendoza, Cuauhtémoc Pérez-González, Hiram I. Beltrán, Roberto Serrano-Vega and Carlos Alberto Méndez-Cuesta

Nanomedicine plays an important role in the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and control of biological systems in the area of nanotechnology and has been referred by the National Institute of Health (NIH) as an emergent way of medicine. Nanoparticles are new delivery vehicles with the ability to release drugs to a specific cell type or tissue, which may also improve the pharmacological activity of those drugs by controlling their release, as well as prolonging their short half-lives in blood. The aim of this review is to gather several options of MOFs and nanotubes synthesised with different nanoparticles and processes, some including compound loading and release studies, with particular focus on 13 anti-cancer compounds e.g. doxorubicin, curcumin, methotrexate, etc.; 3 anti-inflammatory compounds, namely ibuprofen, salicylic acid and chlorogenic acid; and with 5 miscellaneous bioactive compounds, including rifampicin, griseofulvin, enoxacin, etc. Finally, other biomedical applications for these composites are shown, like being enzyme immobilisation agents, for water treatment e.g. in swimming pools, and other becoming support to carry & secure integrity of drugs.

Part of the book: Biochemical Toxicology

By Nimsi Campos-Xolalpa, Julia Pérez-Ramos, Ana Esquivel-Campos, Cuauhtemoc Pérez-González, Leonor Sánchez-Pérez and Salud Pérez-Gutiérrez

Cancer is a group of related diseases in which there is uncontrolled cell growth that spreads to the surrounding tissues and damages them. Cancer remains the disease with the leading cause of death worldwide, and incidence and mortality are increasing rapidly. The main cancer treatment is chemotherapy; however, the compounds used in this treatment have serious side effects for this reason, is necessary to develop new therapeutic strategies. Natural products are an excellent pharmacological alternative for the treatment of cancer and infections. In search of new compounds with cytotoxic and antimicrobial activity, we have found quinones that have a high pharmacological potency in the treatment of these health problems. Quinones are an aromatic system of one or diketone and are mainly isolated from plants, fungi, bacteria, and other organisms. These compounds are secondary metabolites derived from the oxidation of hydroquinones; they include benzoquinones, naphthoquinones, anthraquinones, and polyquinones. This review summarizes the activity of 152 anticancer and 30 antimicrobial quinones.

Part of the book: Cytotoxicity

By Miguel Martell Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Méndez Cuesta, Miguel Angel Zavala Sánchez, Erick Cuauhtemoc Pérez Montiel, Alfonso Mata Berbudez and Cuauhtemoc Pérez González

Currently, there are approximately 250 antibiotics registered for use in human and veterinary medicine worldwide, which, as a result of inadequate management and poor disposal of waste, among other bad practices in their management, are more common in wastewater; this situation has begun to attract more attention and be an interesting topic for the proposal of solutions. In the search for options to solve this problem, structured materials are being actively studied; one material that has received significant attention is the metal organic framework (MOF) type. The use of MOFs with various topologies and characteristics are demonstrating great effectiveness in the elimination of different types of contaminants from water, such as medications, such as anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, explosives, and heavy metals. Different antibiotics are used as models in these studies, from which it follows that the nature of the drugs that can be eliminated from effluents is very varied, which allows us to see that it can be an interesting option. Another objective pursued by these studies is to seek to establish the number of cycles in which these materials can be used to carry out the capture of drugs, as well as the type of kinetics that follow the adsorption of these materials in the MOFs.

Part of the book: Wastewater Treatment - Past and Future Perspectives [Working title]