Abstract
Alkaloids have protective functions for plants and can play an important role in living organisms. Alkaloids may have a wide range of pharmacological activities. Many of them have cytotoxic activity. Nowadays, cancer has become a serious public health problem. Searching for effective drugs with anticancer activity is one of the most significant challenges of modern scientific research. The aim of this study was the investigation of cytotoxic activity of extracts obtained from Corydalis lutea root and herb, Dicentra spectabilis root and herb, Fumaria officinalis, Macleaya cordata leaves and herb, Mahonia aquifolia leaves and cortex, Meconopsis cambrica root and herb on FaDu, SCC-25, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231 cancer cell lines. The cytotoxic activity of these extracts has not been previously tested for these cell lines. The aim was also to quantify selected alkaloids in the investigated extracts by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The analyses of alkaloid content were performed using HPLC in reversed phase (RP) mode using Polar RP column and mobile phase containing acetonitrile, water and ionic liquid (IL). Cytotoxic effect of the tested plant extracts and respective alkaloid standards were examined using human pharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells (FaDu), human tongue squamous carcinoma cells (SCC-25), human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7), human triple-negative breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MDA-MB-231). All investigated plant extracts possess cytotoxic activity against tested cancer cell lines: FaDu, SCC-25, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231. The highest cytotoxic activity against FaDu, SCC-25, and MCF-7 cell lines was estimated for Macleaya cordata leaf extract, while the highest cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231 cell line was obtained for Macleaya cordata herb extract. Differences in cytotoxic activity were observed for extracts obtained from various parts of investigated plants. In almost all cases the cytotoxic activity of investigated plant extracts, especially at the highest concentration against tested cell lines was significantly higher than the activity of anticancer drug etoposide. Our investigations exhibit that these plant extracts can be recommended for further in vivo experiments to confirm their anticancer activity.
Highlights
Cancer is one of the most prominent diseases in humans and currently there is considerable scientific interest shown towards the exploration of new anticancer agents from natural sources including plants
Alkaloid standards were chromatographed on Hydro reversed phase (RP) and Polar RP columns in eluent system containing acetonitrile, water and 0.04 ML−1 of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate in gradient elution mode described in section “Experimental”
RP column with the octadecyl phase there was a worse shape of the peaks, lower theoretical plates number, and poorer separation selectivity of the investigated alkaloids, the RP Polar column was selected for further investigations (Table 1, Figure 1 and Figure S1)
Summary
Cancer is one of the most prominent diseases in humans and currently there is considerable scientific interest shown towards the exploration of new anticancer agents from natural sources including plants. Many plants are the source of a variety of substances, including secondary metabolites which exhibit the anticancer activity. Most of the anticancer drugs obtained from plants inhibit the nucleic acid synthesis, but the mechanism of action differs widely. Isoquinoline alkaloids are a group of natural bioactive products with widespread occurrence in nature. Some isoquinoline alkaloids have antibacterial, antifungal, anti-tumor and other biological activities. For the determination of them in plants, the modern chromatographic methods are most often applied
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