# State-of-the-Art and Opportunities for Bioactive Pentacyclic Triterpenes from Native Mexican Plants
## 2 Pentacyclic Triterpenes from Mexican Plants
### Biological Activity Survey of PCTs Found in Mexican Plants
3\(\upbeta\)-palmitoxy clean-12-ene **(31)** showed a 1.81% (PC-3), 6.88% (K562), 10.46% (HCT-15), 3.24% (MCF-7), and 21.95% (SKLU-1) inhibitory effect while 3\(\upbeta\)-palmitoxlioxi-18,11\(\upalpha\)-dihidroxi-olean-12-ene **(32)** generated a 29.56% (U251), 20.72% (PC-3), 9.86% (K562), 7.24% (HCT-15), 11.53% (MCF-7), and 12.89% (SKLU-1) inhibition. Moreover, using lupyel palmitate **(33)**, the cell lines showed an inhibition of 3.05% (PC-3), 3.46% (K562), 10.24% (HCT-15), 13.43% (MCF-7), and 19.59% (SKLU-1). Finally, 3\(\upbeta\)-palmitoyloxy-11-oxo-olean-12-ene **(34)** generated an inhibition of 0.08% (PC-3), 18.69% (HCT-15), 5.15% (MCF-7), and 20.06% (SKLU-1). In comparison, etoposide had an inhibition of 91.1% (U251), 51.4% (PC-3), 60.2% (K562), 80.8% (HCT-15), 56.8% (MCF-7), and 81.7% (SKLU-1) [42]. For the anti-inflammatory evaluation, the team induced mouse ear edema by applying TPA and then triterpene or indomethacin (positive control). PCT **(32)** showed an inhibition of 68.76% while **(31)** had a 48.26% effect, followed by **(33)** and **(34)**, with an inhibition of 22.31% and 31.49%, respectively, while indomethacin had a 78.76% inhibition. Due to the high activity of **(32)**, the team measured its ID\({}_{50}\) on mouse edema, showing a value of 0.60 \(\upmu\)mol/ear. On the other hand, indomethacin had an ID\({}_{50}\) of 0.24 \(\upmu\)mol/ear. Compound **(32)** was also evaluated on the carrageenan-induced mouse plantar edema model, using a dose of 31.6 mg/kg and reaching the peak of the inhibitory activity after 3 h (48.2%) in a similar way to indomethacin (7.5 mg/kg dose, 74.1% inhibition after 3 h). The activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) was determined to study the effects of **(32)** on the inflammatory process. After the addition of TPA to the mouse ear, each compound was administrated from 0.1 to 1.78 \(\upmu\)mol/ear, showing the highest reduction in MPO activity when the compound was applied at 1 \(\upmu\)mol/ear [41]. In addition to the previously noted cases, the roles of PCTs have also been explored on assays regarding their vasorleaxant effects. In 2012, [PERSON] et al. extracted four PCTs (ursolic **(14)**, moronic **(30)**, moronic **(35)**, and benthic **(36)** acids) from _Phoradenron reichenbchaium_ (Viscaceae) to profile its vasorleaxant activity [42]. In this case, the team used rat aorta rings (present endothelium) between two metallic hooks to measure the contractile force (% of relaxation) changes after the addition of the compounds and NA (noradrenaline bitartrate) for pre-contracting the tissues before the addition the PCTs. The highest maximum effect (E\({}_{\text{max}}\)) was observed in **(30)** (92.01%, EC\({}_{50}\) (half maximal effective concentration) 11.7 \(\upmu\)M), followed by **(36)** (79.01%, EC\({}_{50}\) 58.46 \(\upmu\)M), **(35)** (73.75%, EC\({}_{50}\) 94.19 \(\upmu\)M), and, lastly, **(14)** (72.59%, EC\({}_{50}\) 11.7 \(\upmu\)M) [42]. The mentioned data belongs to procedures where endothelium was present in the aortic rings. More recently, three different PCTs (corsolic acid **(37)** from _Cratageus gracilior_, gallphimidin **(38)** from _Galphimia_ glauc, and 3\(\upbeta\)_-trans-p_-commaoyl-oxy-16-\(\upbeta\)-hydroxy-20(29)-lupene **(39)** from _Jatropha neopaculifera_) were investigated for their vasorleaxant activity [43]. These compounds had been previously extracted and isolated by the same team. In this study, L-phenylephrine stimulated the contraction of rat aortic rings before the addition of the compounds. Acetylcholine was used as a positive control, with 58.8 \(\pm\) 8.9 \(\upmu\)M as EC\({}_{50}\) and 69.5 \(\pm\) 5.7% as E\({}_{\text{max}}\).