title: Potent cytotoxic activity of Saururus cernuus extract on human colon and breast carcinoma cultures under normoxic conditions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Saururus cernuus (Sc) is a small plant, used for the treatment of various human inflammations. The present study aimed at investigating the cytotoxic potential of the methanolic extract of this plant against brine shrimp larvae and human carcinoma cells at normoxic conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  The in vivo lethality test was evaluated at various doses against brine shrimp larvae at different time periods. Similarly, the extract was tested for 48 h at various concentrations against human CL-18 and MDA-MB-231 carcinoma cell lines and the toxicity was evaluated using the dye binding crystal-violet assay method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the shrimp assay, the extract was very active, with ED50 values ranging from 1.83 +/- 0.2 to 2.79 +/- 0.2 microg/ml at various incubation periods. The extract was also very potent in human CL-18 and MDA-MB-231 cultures with LD50 values of 1.9 +/- 0.17 and 0.26 +/- 0.03 microg/ml, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study indicate that Sc extract contains very stable, potent anticancer compounds, which gain access into the cells quickly and kill carcinoma cells and shrimp larvae at normoxic conditions.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, Florida 32307, USA.
authors.forename: Ramesh B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Badisa
authors.forename: Veera L D
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Badisa
authors.forename: Evan H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Lekan M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Latinwo
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000818:Animals; D001156:Artemia / Q000187:drug effects; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D032134:Saururaceae / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts