Antiproliferative, antileishmanial and antimicrobial studies on Cnidoscolus quercifolius Pohl (Euphorbiaceae)

Abstract

Cnidoscolus quercifolius is an Euphorbiaceae endemic to the northeast region of Brazil, which is used in folk medicine as anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antibiotic. An ethanolic extract was prepared with the leaves from C. quercifolius, and also partitioned and chromatographed leading to the isolation of cyanoglucoside linamarin (1), cinnamic acid (2), as well as a mixture of steroids and terpenoids (3 -6). Structural elucidation of the compounds was done by IR, MS and NMR analysis. For the cyanoglucoside (1) were also evaluated its antimicrobial and antileishmanial viabilities by plaque microdilution and MTT test, respectively. Both tests showed from moderate to zero activity against the organisms evaluated. In addition, the antiproliferative activity of compounds 1 and 5-6 were tested against tumor cells, which did not show statistically significant growth inhibition 50% (GI 50 ). The obtained results suggested that further pharmacological studies should prove the folk medicinal uses.

Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of the Cnidoscolus quercifolis: A Review

“…It was observed in that study that the compound deoxofaveline was considered the most active, with IC 50 values ranging from 2.7 to 8.9 µg/mL. Faveline methyl was selective for leukemia cells (IC 50 1.6µg/mL), showing weak activity in other cells [63].…”

“…(E)-β-farnesene 55 Leaves, flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] Methyl-β-(E)-ionol 56 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] (E)-β-Ionene 57 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] Biciclogermacrene 58 Leaves, flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] β-Bisabolene 59 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] α-Cadinene 60 Leaves, flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] (E)-nerolidol 61 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] Curcumenol 62 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] Vetivenic acid 63 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] Cryptomeridiol 64 Leaves, stem bark GC-MS Essential oil [48] β-Vetivone 65 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] Isophytol 66 Leaves GC-MS Essential oil [48] α-Pinene 67 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] Sabinene 68 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] Myrcene 69 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] Dehydroxy-trans-Linalool oxide 70 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] Meta-mentha 1-( 7),8-diene 71 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] δ-2-Carene 72 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] α-Phellandrene 73 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] o-Cresol methyl ether 74 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] iso-sylvestrene 75 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil [48] δ-3-Carene 76 Flowers GC-MS Essential oil…”

“…The anti-melanoma potential of a terpenoid filacantone (34) obtained from C. quercifolius was investigated by Oliveira-Júnior et al [65] and showed promising cytotoxic activity (IC 50 40.9 µM) against chemoresistant human melanoma cells. The antiproliferative activity of linamarin (28) and lupeol derivatives (lupeol-3β-Ocinnamate (32) and lupeol-3β-O-dihydrocinnamate (33)) were evaluated in human tumor cells; however, the compounds did not show significant inhibition of cell growth when compared to the antitumor used as a control (doxorubicin) [63,66].…”