Cytotoxic and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Bursera species from Mexico

Abstract

Objective: Organic extracts from nine species (eleven populations) of the Bursera genus native to Mexico, were investigated for cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activities. The influence of the cytotoxic plant extracts on cell cycle progression and apoptosis were also analyzed. Materials and methods: Cytotoxic activity from B. ariensis (Kunth) McVaugh and Rzed. Kew Bull (two populations), B. bicolor Engl., B. lancifolia Engl., B. glabrifolia Engl. (two populations), B. fagaroides (La Llave) Rez., Calderón and Medina, B. linanoe (La Llave) Rez., Calderón and Medina, B. galeottiana Engl., B. kerberi Engl., and B. excelsa Engl. were evaluated by the sulforhodamine B protein staining assay against four carcinoma cell lines: KB (nasopharyngeal), HF-6 (colon), MCF-7 (breast), and PC-3 (prostate), as well as on HFS-30 fibroblast normal skin cell line. Chloroform extracts from B. ariensis (two populations), B. kerberi and B. galeottiana were added to PC-3 cells to analyze percentage of cells in G1/S and G2/M phases by flow cytometric analysis, while apoptosis was determined in a fluorescence microscope. In vivo anti-inflammatory experiments were conducted through the 12-Otetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) induced ear edema in mice. Results: With the exception of B. glabrifolia and B. excelsa, hexane extracts of all the collected plant species displayed selective cytotoxic activity in at least one cell line. For the chloroform extracts, only B. bicolor, B. kerberi, B. galeottiana, and B. fagaroides exhibited cytotoxic activity, while for the ethyl acetate extracts B. fagaroides was the only plant displaying cytotoxic effect. There was no cytotoxic activity detected with methanol extracts. While B. galeottiana showed an important effect in G2/M arrest, induced apoptosis in PC-3 cells was detected with B. ariensis (two populations) and B. galeottiana. Important anti-inflammatory activity similar to the control indomethacin was displayed by B. galeottiana, B. excelsa, and B. schlechtendalii. Conclusion: Findings demonstrated that the studied species possess pharmacological potential qualities for developing plant medicines.

Biological activity and flavonoid profile of five species of the Bursera genus

“…The antioxidant activity of other Bursera species have been associated with lignans (Nieto-Yañez 2017, Marcotullio et al 2018) and phenols (Martinez-Elizalde et al 2018) Flavonoids such as hesperidin, apigenin, luteolin and quercetin, have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects (Ferraz et al 2020). In a previous work, anti-inflammatory effects have been reported with an average effective dose (ED 50 ) of B. excelsa (0.26 ± 0.01 mg/ear), B. galeottiana (0.23 ± 0.02 mg/ear) and B. schlechtendalii (0.25 ± 0.02 mg/ear) from bark using chloroform extracts (Acevedo et al 2015). These reports suggested that the highest concentration of anti-inflammatory metabolites was found in the bark, however, our results indicated that the flavonoids were also found in stems and leaves (Table 6).…”

Phytochemical Profiles and Cytotoxic Activity of Bursera fagaroides Leaves and Its Callus Culture

“…The chemical study of B. fagaroides over the years shows the characterization of 19 lignans that have been isolated from the bark, using solvents with different polarities and these compounds present cytotoxic activity, and some have been evaluated by their antitumor effect. It has been demonstrated that some of them promote mitotic arrest, delay cell migration, and disrupt microtubules [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]; however, their extraction and purification has been carried out from the bark and requires large amounts of plant biomass. Given the magnitude of tropical deforestation in recent decades, the fact that about 70% of tropical hardwood forests have been drastically lost [12,13], and that it is also one of the most threatened ecosystems in the country, it is necessary to seek alternatives for its extraction.…”

Phytochemical Profiles and Cytotoxic Activity of Bursera fagaroides (Kunth) Engl. Leaves and Its Callus Culture

“…Its bark is yellowish gray, and it is used in traditional medicine to relieve inflammation, skin tumors and warts [4]. The chemical study of B. fagaroides over the years has included the characterization of 19 lignans structures classified into four groups: eight are aryltetralins: podophyllotoxin (1), β-peltatin-A-methylether (2), 5 ′ -desmethoxy-βpeltatin-A-methylether (3), desoxypodophyllotoxin (4), acetyl podophyllotoxin (5), morelensine (6), burseranin (7) and acetylpicropodophyllotoxin (8); three are dibenzylbutyrolac-tone: desmethoxy-yatein (9), yatein (10) and hinoquinin (11); three are aryldihydronaphtalene: 7 ′ ,8 ′ -dehydropodophyllotoxin (12), 7 ′ ,8 ′ -dehydroacethyl podophyllotoxin (13) and 7 ′ ,8 ′ -dehydro trans-p-cumaroylpodophyllotoxin (14); and five are lignan dibenzylbutanes: 9-acetyl-9 ′ -pentadecanoyldihydroclusin (15), 2,3-desmethoxy-secoisolintetralin monoacetate (16), dihydroclusin diacetate (17), 2,3-demethoxy-secoisolintetralin diacetate (18) and dihydroclusin mono acetate (19) [5][6][7]. These compounds have been isolated from the bark using solvents with different polarities [5,6,[8][9][10], and these compounds present important cytotoxic activity with IC 50 values ranging from 12 µgmL −1 (burseranin, 7) to 4.43 × 10 −6 µgmL −1 (β-peltatin-A-methylether, 2).…”

“…Some have been evaluated by their antitumor effect (2 and 3). It has been demonstrated that some of them (1, 2, 5 and 9) promote mitotic arrest, delay cell migration and disrupt microtubules [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Their extraction and purification have been carried out from the bark and require large amounts of plant biomass.…”

“…Bursera fagaroides is a plant with medicinal, antitumor and cytotoxic properties due to the different components it synthesizes [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The traditional method of extraction or chemical synthesis is performed using the bark, but this practice is considered unsustainable due to high production costs, low yields and severe damage to the plant.…”