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Cytotoxic Triterpene from Barringtonia asiatica

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Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal Aims and scope

Triterpenes isolated from the dichloromethane extract of Barringtonia asiatica, namely, a mixture of betulinic acid (1) and 22-O-tigloylcamelliagenin A (2) in a 1 : 2 ratio and a mixture of 3β-olean-18-en-3-yl palmitate (7), 3β-urs-12-en-3-yl palmitate (8) and 3β-olean-12-en-3-yl palmitate (9) in a 4 : 1 : 2 ratio (isolated from the bark), as well as germanicol caffeoyl ester (3), germanicol trans-coumaroyl ester (4), germanicol cis-coumaroyl ester (5) and germanicol (6) (from the leaves), and a phenolic compound, verimol K (10) from the flowers, were assessed for cytotoxicity against a human cancer cell line, colon carcinoma (HCT 116), using the MTT assay. The mixture of 1 and 2 exhibited IC50 =8.0 μg · mL–1 against this cell line, while 6 exhibited an IC50 value of 29.6 μg · mL–1. The other compounds tested (3 – 5, 7 – 10) were inactive against the HCT 116 cell line. The mixture of 1 and 2 and compound 6 were further tested for cytotoxicity against the non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cell line. The mixture of 1 and 2 and compound 6 exhibited IC50 values of 6.0 and 35.6 μg · mL–1, respectively. The cytotoxicity for the mixture of 1 and 2 may be attributed to betulinic acid (1), a known cytotoxic compound.

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Acknowledgments

A research grant from the Centennial Fund of De La Salle University — Manila is gratefully acknowledged. The MTT assay was conducted at the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department and Center for Natural Sciences and Ecological Research, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, Manila, 1004, Philippines

    Consolacion Y. Ragasa & Dinah L. Espineli

  2. National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, 155 – 1, Li-Nong St., Sec. 2, Taipei, 112, Taiwan

    Chien-Chang Shen

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  1. Consolacion Y. Ragasa
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  2. Dinah L. Espineli
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  3. Chien-Chang Shen
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Correspondence to Consolacion Y. Ragasa.

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Ragasa, C.Y., Espineli, D.L. & Shen, CC. Cytotoxic Triterpene from Barringtonia asiatica . Pharm Chem J 48, 529–533 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11094-014-1144-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11094-014-1144-1

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