Evaluation of native and exotic Brazilian plants for anticancer activity.
Native and exotic Brazilian plants collected in the State of Minas Gerais were evaluated for their anticancer potential. Methanol extracts from leaves of 51 plant species were tested for cytotoxicity against four tumor cell lines: B16 (murine skin), HL-60 (human leukemia), MCF-7 (human breast), and HCT-8 (human colon). Plant extracts that exhibited IC(50) values less than 30 microg/ml against any tumor cell line were tested on sea urchin egg development and mouse erythrocytes. In addition, all extracts were evaluated for their general toxicity using the brine shrimp lethality assay. The most active extracts against the tumor cells were those obtained from Lantana fucata, Copaifera langsdorffii, and Momordica charantia. These three extracts inhibited sea urchin development from the first cleavage, but those from C. langsdorffii and M. charantia were very active against mouse erythrocytes. Only the L. fucata extract presented no hemolytic activity. Consequently, although the extracts of L. fucata, M. charantia, and C. langsdorffii could be useful in the development of new anticancer products, the first of these extracts is the most promising since it did not present unspecific toxicity, as suggested by negative results obtained with brine shrimp lethality and mouse erythrocytes assays.
dos Santos Júnior
Helvécio Martins
HM
Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. martinssantosjr@yahoo.com.br
Oliveira
Denilson Ferreira
DF
de Carvalho
Douglas Antônio
DA
Pinto
Joyce Mendes Andrade
JM
Campos
Viviane Aparecida Costa
VA
Mourão
Ana Raquel Braga
AR
Pessoa
Cláudia
C
de Moraes
Manoel Odorico
MO
Costa-Lotufo
Letícia Veras
LV
D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001156:Artemia; D001938:Brazil; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods; D018922:HL-60 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy; D051379:Mice; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010946:Plants, Medicinal
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D010936:Plant Extracts