Randomized Anticancer and Cytotoxicity Activities of Guibourtia Coleosperma and Diospyros Chamaethamnus.

Abstract

Background: Plants have consistently proven to be a reliable and yet not fully explored source of medicines. In light of this, there is a constant demand for new treatment regimens for cancer. Namibia has a rich diversity of plant species of over 4300 with 17 % of them being endemic to Namibia. Plants growing in Namibia's diverse climatic zones produce many secondary metabolites as part of adaptation to their environment. This article focused on the screening of such phytochemicals and their cytotoxic and anticancer properties in vitro. Two Namibian plants Diospyros chamaethamnus and Guibourtia coleosperma were randomly selected for this purpose. Materials and Methods: The plants were screened for the presence of coumarins, alkaloids, flavonoids, anthraquinones, steroids and terpenoids using thin layer chromatography. Anticancer screening was performed on a panel of three cancer cell lines, while cytotoxicity was determined using a human fibroblast cell line, both using the SRB method. Results: Alkaloids, anthraquinones, flavonoids and steroids were detected in both organic and aqueous extracts of the two plants. The organic plant extracts had a greater anti-proliferative effect on the cancer cell lines than the aqueous extracts; the D. chamaethamnus organic root extract was the most potent with an IC50 of 16.08, 29.12 and 24.67 µg/mL against TK10, UACC62 and MCF7 cells, respectively. Furthermore, cytotoxicity analysis revealed the non-toxic nature of the extracts, except for the organic root extract of D. chamaethamnus that showed significant cytotoxicity (IC50 13.03 µg/mL). Conclusion: D. chamaethamnus is a potential candidate for the development of a plant based cancer treatment. The study showed the value of random screening in drug discovery from plants for pharmacological activity that is unrelated to their ethnomedicinal uses.

Phytochemical compounds of <i>Guibourtia ehie</i> and their antioxidant, urease and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities

“…This study led to the isolation of thirteen compounds, including ellagic acid (1) and its derivative 3,3 ′ -di-Omethylellagic acid 4 ′ -O-β-D-xylopyranoside (2), rhaponticin (3), 2,6-dimethoxybenzoquinone (4), lupeol (5), taraxerol (6), friedelan-3-one (7), lanosterol (8), scopoletin (9), pilloin (10), as well as the common steroids β-sitosterol (11), stigmasterol (12) and stigmasterol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (13). The isolation of these secondary metabolites is not uncommon since the report on previous phytochemical investigations of some Guibourtia species like Guibourtia ehie, G. coleosperma, and G. tesmanii demonstrated the presence of tannins, triterpenoids, saponins and sterols (Dushimemaria et al, 2017). All of these compounds have been reported from G. ehie for the first time, allowing us to gain a better understanding of this species' chemistry.…”

Unveiling major ethnopharmacological aspects of genus Diospyros in context to its chemical diversity: A comprehensive overview

“…Another Diospyros species; D. chamaethamnus , was investigated for its anticancer activity in vitro using TK10, UACC62, and MCF7 cell lines . D. chamaethamnus dichloromethane‐methanol root extract exhibited the most potent cytotoxicity with an IC 50 of 16.08, 29.12 and 24.67 μg/mL respectively (Dushimemaria, Du Preez, & Mumbengegwi, 2017). Furthermore, D. discolor crude methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of seeds, and peels, were reported to have moderate cytotoxicity.…”

Phytochemical Screening of <i>Diospyros paniculata</i> Bark and <i>In Vitro</i> Cytotoxic Study on Human Breast Cancer Cell Line

“…The survival rate with cancer treatment is not beneficial to surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Chemotherapy produces side effects like vomiting, hair loss, reduction of cell count in the bone marrow and some drugs result in drug resistance 3 . Drug discovery with natural products is evolving as a successful strategy in the development of novel therapeutic drugs.…”