title: Cytotoxic activity of some Asarum plants.
abstract: The cytotoxic activity against some tumor cell lines of 16 commonly used species of Asarum was evaluated in this study. All of these plants were widely used in Asian countries as traditional medicines or folk medicines. Their inhibitory activities against four tumor cell lines (HL-60, BGC-823, KB and Bel-7402) were compared. It was observed that 10 of the tested extracts (eight ethanol extracts and two water extracts) among 32 extracts of these plants showed cytotoxic activity. Those 95% ethanol extractions from A. caudigerellum, A. forbesii, A. inflatum and A. maximum exhibited the highest cytotoxic activity, and 95% ethanol extracts or water extracts of A. sieboldii var. seoulense, A. himalaicum, A. splendens and A. crispulatum showed selective activity against one or two cells among the tested tumor cells. This is the first report of Asarum plants possessing cytotoxic activity against tumor cell lines.
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biominetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, P.R. China. sqcai@bjmu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Shao-Qing
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Rui-Qing
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Fu-Xiang
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Ran
authors.forename: Ming-Ying
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.forename: Jing-Rong
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Katsuko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Tsuneo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Namba
mesh_terms: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D030023:Asarum / Q000737:chemistry*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D010936:Plant Extracts