Bioassay-guided Isolation of Deoxypodophyllotoxin, the Cytotoxic Constituent of Juniperus chinensis

  • Ali, A.M. (Department of Biotechnology, Universiti Putra Malaysia) ;
  • Intan-Safinar, I. (Department of Biotechnology, Universiti Putra Malaysia) ;
  • Mackeen, M.M. (Department of Biotechnology, Universiti Putra Malaysia) ;
  • El-Sharkawy, S.H. (Department of Biotechnology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Mansoura) ;
  • Takahata, K. (Department of Bioresources Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Okayama University) ;
  • Kanzaki, H. (Department of Bioresources Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Okayama University) ;
  • Kawazu, K. (Department of Bioresources Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Okayama University)
  • Published : 1998.09.01

Abstract

The ethanol extract from the leaves of Juniperus chinensis was found to be cytotoxic towards HeLa cells. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the EtOAc soluble faction directed by the microtitration cytotoxic assay revealed that the cytotoxic compound was deoxypodophyllotoxin. All the tumour cell lines tested (KU8112F-chronic mylogeneous leukemia, TK 10-renal carcinoma, UACC 62-melanoma and CEM-SS-T-lymphoblastic leukemia) were found to be susceptible to deoxypodophyllotoxin, however, the minimum effective concentration (MEC) required to reduce the cell population by 100 percent was different between cell lines.

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