Characterization of volatile compounds of Albertisia papuana Becc root extracts and cytotoxic activity in breast cancer cell line T47D

Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxic activity of chloroform and water root extracts of Albertisia papuana Becc. on T47D cell line and identify the volatile compounds of the extracts. Methods: The plant roots were extracted with chloroform and water using maceration and boiling methods, respectively. The cytotoxicity of the extracts on T47D were determined using 3-(4,5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Doxorubicin was used as reference drug in the cytotoxicity test while Probit analysis was used to calculate the Median Growth Inhibitory Concentration IC50 of the extracts. The volatile compounds in the chloroform and water root extracts were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometry GC-MS. Results: The IC50 of the chloroform and water extracts were 28.0 ± 6.0 and 88.0 ± 5.5 μg/mL, respectively whereas that of doxorubicin was 8.5 ± 0.1 μg/mL. GC-MS results showed that there were 46 compounds in the chloroform extract, out of which the five major components are ethyl linoleate (49.68 %), bicyclo (3.3.1) non-2-ene (29.29 %), ethyl palmitate (5.06 %), palmitic acid (3.67 %) and ethyl heptadecanoate (1.57 %).The water extract consisted of three compounds, butanoic acid (15.58 %); methyl cycloheptane (3.45 %), and methyl 2-O-methylpentofuranoside (80.96 %). Conclusion: The chloroform root extract of A. papuana Becc. had a fairly potent anticancer activity against breast cancer cells and may be further developed as an anticancer agent. Its major components were fatty acids and fatty acid esters.

Antifungal activity of extracts from Atacama Desert fungi against Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and identification of Aspergillus felis as a promising source of natural bioactive compounds

Fungi of the genus Paracoccidioides are responsible for paracoccidioidomycosis. The occurrence of drug toxicity and relapse in this disease justify the development of new antifungal agents. Compounds extracted from fungal extract have showing antifungal activity. Extracts of 78 fungi isolated from rocks of the Atacama Desert were tested in a microdilution assay against Paracoccidioides brasiliensis Pb18. Approximately 18% (5) of the extracts showed minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ≤ 125.0 μg/mL. Among these, extract from the fungus UFMGCB 8030 demonstrated the best results, with an MIC of 15.6 μg/mL. This isolate was identified as Aspergillus felis (by macro and micromorphologies, and internal transcribed spacer, β-tubulin, and ribosomal polymerase II gene analyses) and was grown in five different culture media and extracted with various solvents to optimise its antifungal activity. Potato dextrose agar culture and dichloromethane extraction resulted in an MIC of 1.9 μg/mL against P. brasiliensis and did not show cytotoxicity at the concentrations tested in normal mammalian cell (Vero). This extract was subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation using analytical C18RP-high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and an antifungal assay using P. brasiliensis. Analysis of the active fractions by HPLC-high resolution mass spectrometry allowed us to identify the antifungal agents present in the A. felis extracts cytochalasins. These results reveal the potential of A. felis as a producer of bioactive compounds with antifungal activity.

Cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of four different extracts of Galega officinalis L (Goat’s rue)

Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of four different solvent extracts obtained from the aerial parts of Galega officinalis L Methods: The hexane, DCM, methanol and water extracts of G. officinalis were successively obtained by soxhlet extraction method. The cytotoxic activity of the extracts was assessed against human lung carcinoma (A-549), human colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT-29), human brain glioblastoma (U-87), and colon adenocarcinoma (DLD-1) by Resazurine test. The antioxidant activity of extracts were determined by Folin-Ciocalteau, oxygen radical absorbing capacity (ORAC), and 2’.7’-dichlorofluorescin-diacetate (DCFH-DA) cell-based assay while their anti-inflammatory activity was determined by nitric oxide (NO) assay. Results: DCM extract showed strong cytotoxic activity against lung adenocarcinoma and brain glioblastoma cell lines, with IC50 (concentration inhibiting 50 % of cell growth) values of 11 ± 0.4 and 16 ± 3 μg/mL, respectively. The hexane extract showed moderate anticancer activity against the same cell lines (59 ± 13 and 63 ± 16 μg/mL, respectively). DCM extract also showed significant anti-inflammatory activity, inhibiting NO release by 86.7 % at 40 μg/mL in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) - stimulated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages. Of all test extracts, the methanol extract of G. officinalis showed the highest antioxidant activity with 2.33 ± 0.09 μmol Trolox/mg , 7.10 ± 0.9 g tannic acid equivalent (TAE), and IC50 of 44 ± 4 μg/mL. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that DCM extract may possess anticancer effect against lung adenocarcinoma and brain glioblastoma, as well as serve as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Phytochemical screening and evaluation of cytotoxicity of stem bark extracts of Genus dolichocarpa and Duguetia chrysocarpa (Annonaceae)

Purpose: To investigate the phytochemistry and cytotoxic activity of stem bark extracts from Genus dolichocarpa and Duguetia chrysocarpa - two species of the Annonaceae family. Methods: The crude ethanol bark extracts (EtOH) of the plants were obtained by maceration. The crude extracts were suspended in a mixture of methanol (MeOH) and water (H2O) (proportion 3:7 v/v) and partitioned with hexane, chloroform (CHCl3) and ethyl acetate (AcOEt) in ascending order of polarity to obtain the respective fractions. The extracts were evaluated on thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates of silica gel to highlight the main groups of secondary metabolites. Cytotoxicity was tested against human tumor cell lines - OVCAR-8 (ovarian), SF-295 (brain) and HCT-116 (colon) - using 3- (4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results: The screening results demonstrated that all the extracts were positive for the presence of flavonoids and tannins. The presence of alkaloids also was detected in some extracts. The hexane extract of A. dolichocarpa showed the strongest cytotoxicity against HCT-116 with cell growth inhibition of 89.02 %. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate for the first time the cytotoxic activity of the extracts of A. dolichocarpa and D. chrysocarpa, thus providing some evidence that plants of the Annonaceae family are a source of active secondary metabolites with cytotoxic activity.