Comparison of Anticancer Activity and HPLC-DAD Determination of Selected Isoquinoline Alkaloids from Thalictrum foetidum, Berberis sp. and Chelidonium majus Extracts

Abstract

Background: Plants are an important origin of natural substances that the raw material for various pharmaceutical and therapeutic applications due to the presence of phytochemicals, such as alkaloids. Alkaloids, which are found in different plant species, possess numerous biological activities. Some alkaloids have strong cytotoxic effects on various cancer cells. The search for new drugs to treat various cancers is one of the most important challenges of modern scientific research. Objective: This study aimed to investigate of cytotoxic activity of extracts that were obtained from Chelidonium Majus; Berberis sp.; Thalictrum foetidum containing various alkaloids on selected cancer cell lines. The aim was also the quantification of selected alkaloids in the investigated extracts by HPLC. Methods: The analysis of alkaloids contents were performed while using HPLC in reversed phase (RP) mode using Polar RP column and mobile phase containing acetonitrile, water, and ionic liquid. The cytotoxic effect of the tested plant extracts and respective alkaloids’ standards were examined while using human pharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells (FaDu), human tongue squamous carcinoma cells (SCC-25), human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7), and human triple-negative breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MDA-MB-231). Conclusion: All of the investigated plant extracts possess cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines: FaDu, SCC-25, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231. The highest cytotoxic activity against FaDu and MDA-MB-231 cells was observed for Chelidonium majus root extract, while the highest cytotoxic activity against SCC-25 and MCF-7 cells was estimated for the Thalictrum foetidum root extract. There obtained significant differences in the cytotoxic activity of extracts that were obtained from the roots and herbs of Chelidonium majus and Thalictrum foetidum. Based on these results, investigated plant extracts can be recommended for further investigations of anticancer activity.

The Cultivation of Chelidonium majus L. Increased the Total Alkaloid Content and Cytotoxic Activity Compared with Those of Wild-Grown Plants

“…Our data provide additional evidence that some alkaloids, such as chelerythrine, sanguinarine, and berberine, are more important in causing apoptosis or stopping the proliferation of cancer cells. Unlike the previously mentioned alkaloids, chelidonine is a weak DNA intercalating agent and does not cause lethal mutations or DNA damage [ 1 , 33 ]. This relationship is very well demonstrated in the study [ 33 ], where all these substances were tested on different cancer cells and chelerythrine, sanguinarine, and berberine showed significantly higher cytotoxicity.…”

Applicability of a Monolithic Column for Separation of Isoquinoline Alkalodis from Chelidonium majus Extract

“…In some papers, the authors have only shown chromatograms and used retention times as the main chromatographic parameter. For instance, Petruczynik et al [31] described an efficient chromatographic system to separate protopine, chelidonine, berberine, sanguinarine, and chelerythrine in a C. majus extract for 45 min on an RP-8 spherical filling with a mobile phase containing 28% acetonitrile, water and 0.04 M/L, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate. Kursinszki et al [30] separated protopine, chelidonine, coptisine, berberine, and sanguinarine for 34 min on an RP-18 column with the use of a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile–methanol–30 mM ammonium formate 14.7:18:67.3 (v/v/v); however, chelerythrine, which has the strongest interaction with the stationary phase, was not included to the study.…”

Toxicokinetics of 11 Gelsemium Alkaloids in Rats by UPLC-MS/MS

“…The developed UPLC-MS/MS was used for the subsequent quantification of all Gelsemium alkaloids, which has a faster analysis time than traditional HPLC [ 35 , 36 ] or LC-MS [ 37 – 39 ] and greatly enhances the signal intensity. It only takes five minutes to analyze a plasma sample, which can save significant time when analyzing hundreds of samples.…”