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Investigation of chemical constituents and cytotoxic activity of the lichen Usnea undulata
Author(s) -
Tram Nguyen Thi Thu,
Anh Dinh Hoang,
Thuc Huynh Hoang,
Tuan Nguyen Trong
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
vietnam journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2572-8288
pISSN - 0866-7144
DOI - 10.1002/vjch.2019000130
Subject(s) - sulforhodamine b , phytochemical , acetone , hexane , chemistry , ic50 , traditional medicine , usnic acid , stereochemistry , methanol , cytotoxicity , chromatography , lichen , biology , botany , biochemistry , organic chemistry , in vitro , medicine
Lichens are a promising source of good anticancer agents. However the study on their bioactivities remains limited, especially in Vietnam. In this study, three extracts of lichen Usnea undulata Stirt. including n ‐hexane, acetone and methanol were investigated for their cytotoxic activity on two human cancer cell lines (MCF‐7, NCI‐H460) and normal fibroblasts by sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay . The results showed that the n‐ hexane extract exhibited the highest inhibition activity with IC 50 5.26±0.13 μg/mL for MCF‐7 and 6.83±0.64 μg/mL for NCI‐H460, followed by acetone extract with IC 50 66.44±1.37 μg/mL and 92.14±1.49 μg/mL, respectively. The methanol extract possessed weak cytotoxic effect against MCF‐7 and NCI‐H460 (IC 50 values more than 100 μg/mL). The n‐ hexane extract demonstrated interesting activity particularly on MCF‐7 as good selectivity index was recorded (SI > 3). The phytochemical study on n‐ hexane and acetone extracts led to the isolation of four compounds including usnic acid ( 1 ), methyl orsellinate ( 2 ), methyl β ‐orsellinate ( 3 ), 7‐hydroxyl‐5‐methoxy‐6‐methylphtalide ( 4) in which compound ( 4 ) was isolated the first time in such species. Their structures were elucidated by NMR analysis and compared with literature data.