Screening of Venezuelan medicinal plant extracts for cytostatic and cytotoxic activity against tumor cell lines.
There are estimated to be more than 20,000 species of plants in Venezuela, of which more than 1500 are used for medicinal purposes by indigenous and local communities. Only a relatively small proportion of these have been evaluated in terms of their potential as antitumor agents. In this study, we screened 308 extracts from 102 species for cytostatic and cytotoxic activity against a panel of six tumor cell lines using a 24-h sulphorhodamine B assay. Extracts from Clavija lancifolia, Hamelia patens, Piper san-vicentense, Physalis cordata, Jacaranda copaia, Heliotropium indicum, and Annona squamosa were the most cytotoxic, whereas other extracts from Calotropis gigantea, Hyptis dilatata, Chromolaena odorata, Siparuna guianensis, Jacaranda obtusifolia, Tapirira guianensis, Xylopia aromatica, Protium heptaphyllum, and Piper arboreum showed the greatest cytostatic activity. These results confirm previous reports on the cytotoxic activities of the above-mentioned plants as well as prompting further studies on others such as C. lancifolia and H. dilatata that have not been so extensively studied.
Centro de Medicina Experimental, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. ptaylor@ivic.gob.ve
Peter
P
Taylor
Miriam
M
Arsenak
María Jesús
MJ
Abad
Angel
A
Fernández
Balentina
B
Milano
Reina
R
Gonto
Marie-Christine
MC
Ruiz
Silvia
S
Fraile
Sofía
S
Taylor
Omar
O
Estrada
Fabian
F
Michelangeli
D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D014687:Venezuela
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D010936:Plant Extracts