Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Antiproliferative activity of extracts of Euphorbia tirucalli L (Euphorbiaceae) from three regions of Brazil

Marina L do C Caxito^1,2, Cristiane P Victório^1,3 , Helber B da Costa⁴, Wanderson Romão^4,5, Ricardo M Kuster², Cerli R Gattass¹

¹Instituto de BiofÃsica Carlos Chagas Filho; ²Instituto de Pesquisas de Produtos Naturais, Bloco H, CCS, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21941-902; ³LaboratÃ³rio de Pesquisa em Biotecnologia Ambiental, FundaÃ§Ã£o Centro UniversitÃ¡rio Estadual da Zona Oeste-UEZO, Av. Manoel Caldeira de Alvarenga 1203, 23070-200, Campo Grande, Rio de Janeiro; ⁴NÃºcleo de CompetÃªncia em QuÃmica do PetrÃ³leo, Universidade Federal do EspÃrito Santo, Av. Fernando Ferrari, 514, 29075-910, VitÃ³ria, EspÃrito Santo; ⁵Instituto Federal de EducaÃ§Ã£o, CiÃªncia e Tecnologia do EspÃrito Santo, Campus Vila Velha, Avenida Ministro Salgado Filho, 1000, 29106-010, Soteco, Vila Velha, Brazil.

For correspondence:- Cristiane Victório Email: cristianevictorio@uezo.rj.gov.br

Received: 14 March 2017 Accepted: 26 April 2017 Published: 30 May 2017

Citation: Caxito ML, Victório CP, Costa HB, Romão W, Kuster RM, Gattass CR. Antiproliferative activity of extracts of Euphorbia tirucalli L (Euphorbiaceae) from three regions of Brazil. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(5):1013-1020 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i5.7

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate Euphorbia tirucalli extract for probable geographic variations in its antiproliferative activity.

Methods: The aerial parts of E. tirucalli were collected in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Rio de Janeiro, Pará, Minas Gerais and Santa Catarina. The 70 % ethanol extract was obtained according to the procedure described in Brazilian Homeopathic Pharmacopeia. The antiproliferative activity of extracts, in concentrations of 62, 125, 250, and 500 µg mL^-1, was tested against leukemia (HL-60), lymphoma (Daudi) and melanoma (B16F10) cell lines using methyl thiazol tetrazolium assay (MTT). Phytochemical analysis were carried out using High-performance liquid chromatography-diode array (HPLC-UV-DAD) and electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI(-) FT-ICR MS) assays.

Results: There was significant regional variability in the cytotoxicity of E. tirucalli extracts in a dose-dependent manner. The extracts had similar activity towards leukemia cell line HL-60, decreasing cell viability to about 60 – 70 %. The extract showed the presence of ellagitannins, flavonoids, veracylglucan, and acid triterpenes as the major compounds.

Conclusion: While the results support the ethnopharmacological use of E. tirucalli throughout Brazil, regional quantitative differences found in some classes of secondary metabolites may explain the variations observed in antitumor activity

Keywords: Aveloz, Cancer, Cytotoxicity, Antiproliferative, Ethnopharmacological, Traditional medicine