Stress, excessive consumption of processed foods, pollutants and many other factors of today's life have caused oxidative stress in our body and damage to genetic material in our cells, leading to diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, metabolic syndrome, among others. Medicine has returned to take up traditional remedies mainly in plants. Chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius) has been studied in this regard, mainly for its antidiabetic effects; however, there is little information about its antioxidant and protective properties against genotoxic damage. The present study focuses on the evaluation of the antioxidant and protective properties to genotoxic damage of aqueous and methanolic extracts of chaya leaves (C. chayamansa) in a model in mice which were induced to oxidative stress and genotoxic damage by exposure to arsenic and low doses of streptozotocin. Genotoxic damage was assessed by micronucleus count and antioxidant properties were assessed in the extracts and plasmas of the mice by the ABTS radical and using Trolox as standard. Additionally, the extracts were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS. Mice treated with aqueous extract showed better recovery than those treated with methanolic extract; however, no significant statistical differences were found between both groups. HPLC analysis suggests the presence of some compounds of interest such as ferulic acid, protocatechonic acid, riboflavin, kaempferol and beta carotene. These could be associated with the effects of protection against genotoxic damage and as antioxidants found in the study. The aqueous extract seems have the best performance against genotoxic damage and have better oxidative properties, so the consumption of chaya can be recommended.

Currently, diabetes mellitus type two is a public health challenge worldwide. Even though there are many oral hypoglycemic agents, a large part of the population continues to use herbal remedies with proven benefits. However, there are few works aimed at evaluating combinations of drugs and herbal remedies. These combinations of drugs and herbal substances can lead to a decrease in the therapeutic effect of each of them. The present work was designed to evaluate the combination of Metformin with aqueous extracts of chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius) in a group of Long Evans streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats. Several combinations of aqueous extracts of C. aconitifolius and Metformin were tested and glycemia was measured in streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats. Additionally, the chemical profile of the extracts was determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled mass tandem detector (HPLC-MS / MS). Results revealed that the combinations tested suggested an antagonistic effect between both compounds since the glycemia remained high in three of the four treated groups. Some of the compounds detected in chaya extracts by HPLC-MS/MS could give a clue of the explanation of this behavior. Conclusively, the therapeutic effect of Metformin may decrease when chaya is regularly consumed as a complementary herbal remedy, as used in a part of the Mexican population. It is recommended to deepen in the future in the pharmacodynamic part to explain this behavior.