Chemical composition and cytotoxicity of Salicornia europaea L

Abstract

Salicornia europaea L. is an economic plant which can grow in saline-alkali land, beach and other heavy saline soil. In this study, the inhibitory activities of S. europaea extracts against tumor cell growth including human non-small cell lung cancer cell A549, human liver cancer cell HepG2, and brain glioma cell U251 were screened. The results showed that the ethanol extract of S. europaea had an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of A549 cells, and the inhibition of tumor cells showed time-dose relationship. Moreover, the ethanol extract of S. europaea was extracted and fractionated with different organic solvents and the activity results indicated that the petroleum ether fraction with IC50 of 96.5 μg mL−1 possessed the best activity against A549 cells. Then seven compounds, including 30-norhederagenin (1), 24-methylenecycoartanol (2), pheophorbide A (3), stigmasterol (4), β-sitosterol (5), α-spinasterol (6), phytol (7) were isolated and identified from the petroleum ether fraction of S. europaea. Besides, the oil obtained from the petroleum ether fraction was analyzed by GC-MS, and fourteen compounds were identified. The compounds identified from the petroleum ether fraction mainly consisted of triterpenes, sterols, fatty acids, and their lipids.