ISSN 2326-7267
International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology ISSN: 2326-7267 Vol. 7 (10), pp. 001-006, October, 2018. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Isolation and cytotoxicity of triterpenes from the roots of Phyllanthus pulcher Wall. ex Müll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae)
Gururaj Bagalkotkar1, Tang Seng Chuan1, Shaik Ibrahim Khalivulla2, Ahmad Sazali Hamzah3, Khozirah Shaari2,4, Nordin Haji Lajis2,4, Mohammad Said Saad5 and Johnson Stanslas1,2*
1Pharmacotherapeutics Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
2Laboratory of Natural Products, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
3Organic Synthesis Laboratory, Institute of Science , Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah–Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
4Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 – Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
5Department of Plant Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Accepted 11 January, 2018
Abstract
The dried powdered roots of Phyllanthus pulcher Wall. ex Müll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae), were sequentially extracted with dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and methanol (MeOH). The extracts were tested for cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines: MCF-7 (breast), NCI-H460 (lung) and DU-145 (prostate). The DCM extract exhibited the strongest cytotoxic activity compared with EtOAc and MeOH extracts. Hence from the DCM extract, five pentacyclic triterpenes, 3α-acetoxyl-25-hydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid (1), glochidone (2), 12(13)-dehydro-3α-acetoxyolean-28-oic acid (3), lupanyl acetate (4) and glochidonol (5) were isolated and identified by spectroscopic analyses (1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR, UV, DEPT, HMQC, HMBC and HREIMS). This is the first report on the isolation of 4 from a natural source, whereas 1 and 3 have already been isolated from the families Hamamelidaceae and Compositae (Asteraceae), respectively. However this is the first study reporting the presence of 1 and 3 in the Euphorbiaceae family. The isolated tritepenes 1-5 were tested against the three human tumour cell lines as stated above. Only compounds 1 and 5 exhibited cytotoxic activity, 5 being most potent with IC50 values ranging 7.5–13.4 µg/mL (17.1–30.5 µM).
Key words: Phyllanthus pulcher, triterpenoids, cytotoxic activity, breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer.