Natural products are some of the important sources of new anticancer drugs. The Brazilian flora is considered one of the most diverse in the word, although not many large-scale pharmacological and phytochemical studies have been conducted to date. With this in mind, in the present study we evaluated the antiproliferative activity of Solanum lycocarpum fruit glycoalkaloid extract (SL) and its major compounds, solamargine (SM) and solasonine (SS), against different tumor cell lines: murine melanoma (B16F10), human colon carcinoma (HT29), human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), human cervical adenocarcinoma (HeLa), human hepatocellular liver carcinoma (HepG2) and human glioblastoma (MO59J, U343 and U251). The antiproliferative activity was evaluated using XTT assay and results were expressed as IC50. The most pronounced antiproliferative activity was observed for SM, with IC50 values ranging from 4.58 to 18.23 μg/mL. The lowest IC50 values were observed against HepG2, being 9.60 μg/mL for SL, 4.58 μg/mL for SM and 6.01 μg/mL for SS. Thus, SL, SM and SS demonstrated antiproliferative activity against the tumor cell lines tested, and were most effective against the HepG2 cell line.

In conclusion, the findings showed that the folk medicinal plant Cecropia pachystachya possesses hypoglycemic and antioxidant effects which confirmed the traditional use of the plant in the treatment of diabetes. Chlorogenic acid and the C-glycosylated flavonoids may explain these activities.

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Several species of Senna are well known for their therapeutic properties, being used in folk medicine to treat throat inflammation and constipation. In this regard, the anti-inflammatory, laxative and intestinal motility effects of different extracts of Senna macranthera (Colladon) H. Irwin and Barneby leaves were determined. The hexane extract significantly reduced carrageenan-induced paw oedema in rats in a manner similar to that of sodium diclofenac. A laxative effect was observed for the methanolic and hexane extracts comparative to the standard drug bisacodyl; however, only the hexane extract increased the intestinal motility in the studied period. Moreover, the extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant activity and the ethyl acetate extract presented a pronounced activity comparable to the standard rutin. Phytochemical screening was also performed and phenolic compounds like flavonoids, tannins and coumarins were observed in all extracts except for the hexane extract, which instead presented anthrones, triterpenes and steroids in its composition. The HPLC profile showed the presence of the anthraquinone emodine in all tested extracts.

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