The aim of this study is to investigate anticancer activity of methanol extract (ethylacetate, n-buthanol and water partitions) and water extract from Sarang semut (local name), Myrmecodya pendens which is one of Rubiaceae family. Within Papua area (Indonesia), this medicinal plant has been used traditionally as alternative treatment for ulcer, tumor and cancer. In this study, the extracts of this plant were tested for their activities in some cancer cells (HeLa and MCM-B2 cell). The result showed that water extract of this plant has better anti cancer activity compared to other extracts. The IC50 value of water extract A is 27.61 ppm (HeLa) and 54.57 ppm (MCM-B2), while water extract B is 29.36 ppm (HeLa) and 74.20 ppm (MCM-B2). Our study concluded that polar extract (water) exhibited higher anticancer activity than non-polar extracts (ethylacetate and n-buthanol).

Cultures of Solanum aviculare hairy roots were established after transformation with Agrobacterium rhizogenes A4. High levels of steroidal alkaloids measured as solasodine equivalents were produced in shake-flasks and bioreactor, even though relatively low concentrations are found in roots in vivo. In shake flasks the maximum alkaloid yield was 32 mg g-1 dry weight; in a 3-1 air-driven bioreactor the yield was 29 mg g-1. These yields represent a 5-fold increase over previous reports for in vitro production, and are comparable with levels found in the aerial parts of intact S. aviculare plants. Production of steroidal alkaloids was growth-associated. High sugar levels at stationary phase and insensitivity to increased levels of medium components suggest that root cultures were limited by oxygen mass-transfer. In Petri-dish culture with and without exogenous gibberellic acid, root length and number of root tips increased exponentially; growth proceeded with a constant length per root tip of about 35 mm. Addition of gibberellic acid enhanced growth but reduced the specific steroidal-alkaloid level. Taking into account both growth and alkaloid yield, accumulation of steroidal alkaloids was improved by about 40% at gibberellic-acid concentrations of 10 and 100 ~tg 1 -l

SHerbal products in powder or capsule forms made of sarang semut plant have been widely distributed in market. This plant is believed to treat several diseases, such as cancer, gout, liver, stroke, heart, hemorrhoid, back pain, allergy, and as tonicum to increase sexual desire. Information on the plants was still limited on plant distribution, ecology, ethnobotany, and taxonomy, without research on toxicity and clinical aspect. Considering that sarang semut products has been distributed at market and limited scientific publication of the plant, hence acute toxicity test of sarang semut extract should be conducted. The results showed that dose of 375 mg/kg bw caused liver degeneration on day-5 and normal on day-19. Whereas dose of 3750 mg/kg bw caused cell necrosis up to day-12, degeneration still apparent on day-26.

Oxygen transfer characteristics of self-immobilized Solanum aviculare cells were measured using aggregates 3.0 to 12.5 mm in diameter. Apparent specific oxygen uptake rates in the absence of external boundary layers varied from 5.9 x 10(-11) to 8.5 x 10(-7) kg kg(-1) s(-1) dry weight, but did not decline continuously with increasing particle size. The effective diffusivity of oxygen in deactivated aggregates increased with particle diameter, varying from 5.0 x 10(-11) to 1.0 x 10(-9) m(2) s(-1) or between 2% and 40% of the molecular diffusivity in water at the same temperature. Gas spaces detected in the larger aggregates were confined to the central core and were not distributed throughout the tissue to facilitate oxygen transfer. Oxygen consumption rates in the absence of diffusional limitations were estimated using the relationship between the observable Thiele modulus and effectiveness factor for zero-order reaction. The calculated results indicated severe oxygen limitations in the aggregates, but were inconsistent with the observation that relatively large S. aviculare aggregates contained a high fraction of viable cells and were capable ofactive growth and steroidal alkaloid synthesis. This work suggests that oxygen delivery is facilitated in living plant cell aggregates by mechanisms which depend on metabolic activity and which do not function in deactivated cells. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons Inc.

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