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Evaluation of the anti‐cancer phytotherapeutic potential of Tulbaghia violacea plant
Author(s) -
Saibu Gbemisola Morounke,
Katerere David,
Rees Jasper,
Meyer Mervin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.962.4
Subject(s) - dichloromethane , bioassay , traditional medicine , column chromatography , chemistry , chromatography , ethyl acetate , hexane , apoptosis , biology , solvent , biochemistry , medicine , genetics
A number of drugs that are currently used in the treatment of cancer were originally identified from natural products. The aim of this study is to investigate the anti‐cancer activity of extracts of Tulbaghia violacea that has traditionally been used to treat cancer. A panel of human cancer cell lines, which included HepG2, MCF7, H157, HT29 and non cancerous cell line KMST6, were treated with aqueous and organic extracts. Induction of apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry using several bioassays. The bioassays showed that the bioactivity of the leave‐extract was significantly higher in comparison to the tuber‐extract. The highest apoptotic activities were demonstrated in the HT29 and MCF7 cell lines. A comparison of the different organic extracts from the leaves showed that the Dichloromethane and hexane extracts had the highest bioactivity. The Dichloromethane extract was subjected to versaflash column chromatography and the bioactivity of the sub‐fractions were also tested. One of these sub‐fractions showed high bioactivity. TLC analysis showed that this sub‐fraction contained a single compound. NMR and mass spectrometry analysis was used to characterize this compound. This study shows that the leaves of T.violacea contain compound(s) with pro‐apoptotic activity. This study supports the claims that this plant can be used to treat cancer.