The Value of Plants Used in Traditional Medicine for Drug Discovery

Fabricant, Daniel S.; Farnsworth, Norman R.

doi:10.2307/3434847

Cited by 590 publications

(698 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Traditional medicinal plants have long been regarded as a source of potential therapeutic agents, and the search for new drugs is usually based on this approach (13). In drug discovery, our previous studies recently applied a new approach of selecting plants based on the use of those plants by primates (3,5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apoptosis-mediated antiproliferative activity of friedolanostane triterpenoid isolated from the leaves of Garcinia celebica against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines

et al. 2015

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Abstract. The leaves of Garcinia celebica strongly inhibit the proliferation of MCF-7 human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. The present study focused on investigating the active anticancer and antiproliferative compound from the G. celebica leaves and assessing its mechanism of action. Ethanol extracts of G. celebica were fractionated based on their polarity using n-hexane, ethyl acetate and water. The antiproliferative properties were tested in vitro against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The active compound was subsequently isolated using column chromatography and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance. The characterized compound was also tested for its antiproliferative properties and the mechanism by which it induces apoptosis in MCF-7 cells by western blot analysis of the activated apoptotic proteins. This resulted in the isolation of a friedolanostane triterpenoid, which was determined to be methyl-3α, 23-dihydroxy-17,14-friedolanstan-8,14,24-trien-26-oat. This compound inhibited MCF-7 cell proliferation in a time-and dose-dependent manner with IC 50 values of 82 and 70 µM for the 24 and 48 h treatments, respectively. Furthermore, the western blot analysis suggested that the compound exerted its anticancer activities by promoting apoptosis through the inhibition of the oncogenic protein Akt, thereby increasing the expression of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) protein. These results suggest that methyl-3α,23-dihydrox y-17,14-frie dolanstan-8,14,24-trien-26-oat is the anticancer compound found in G. celebica, providing a basis for its potential use in cancer disease management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apoptosis-mediated antiproliferative activity of friedolanostane triterpenoid isolated from the leaves of Garcinia celebica against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines

et al. 2015

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“…Documenting the indigenous knowledge through ethnobotanical studies is important for the conservation and utilization of biological resources. Ethnobotanical survey has been found to be one of the reliable approaches to drug discovery (Fabricant and Farnsworth, 2001; Kolanjinathan and Saranraj, 2015).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants from Vellore district, Tamil nadu, India

Saranraj¹,

Bhavani²,

Suganthi³

2016

Int. J. Adv. Res. Biol. Sci

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The use of plants and its secondary metabolic products as medicines could be traced as far back as the beginning of human civilization. The earliest mention of medicinal use of plants in Hindu culture was found long years ago in "Rig veda", which was written between 4500 -1600 B.C. and was supposed to be the oldest repository of human knowledge. It is Ayurveda, the foundation of medicinal science of Hindu culture, in its eight division deals with specific properties of drugs and various aspects of science of life and the art of healing. In the present study, ethnobotanical survey was carried out in Vellore district, Tamilnadu, India. Traditional uses of 80 plant species spread over 31 families are described under this study. The medicinal plants used by them are arranged by Scientific name, Common name, Family name, Plant parts used and Therapeutic uses. The plants documented in this survey belong to the families such as Acanthaceae, Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Apocyanaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Asteraceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Labiatae, Liliaceae, Malvaceae, Papilionoideae, Verbanaceae, Vitaceae, Solanaceae, Lythraceae, Marsileaceae, Poaceae, Mimosaceae, Sapindaceae, Oxalidaceae, Aizoaceae, Araceae, Cruciferae, Mimosoideae, Rubiaceae, Lamiaceae, Basellaceae, Portulaceae, Fabaceae and Zingibesaceae. The present investigation revealed that the medicinal plants still play a vital role in the primary health care of the people.

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“…Fresh, disease free leaves of the A. precatorius were collected from Danvantrivanna, Jnanabharathi campus Bangalore, Karnataka, in March and May, washed thoroughly 2-3 times with tap water and once with sterile distilled water, shade dried then powdered and used for extraction (Fabrican and Farnsworth 2001). An authenticated voucher specimen of the plant is deposited in the herbarium of Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Bangalore University, Bangalore.…”

Section: Plant Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cytotoxic and pro-apoptotic effects of Abrus precatorius L. on human metastatic breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231

et al. 2012

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Abrus precatorius is highly regarded as a universal panacea in the herbal medicine with diverse pharmacological activity spectra. This experimental study on the mechanism of the anticancer activity of A. precatorius leaf extracts, may offer new evidence for A. precatorius in the treatment of breast cancer in clinical practice. Cell death was determined by using MTT assay. Further analyses were carried out by doing DNA laddering, PARP cleavage, FACS, semi-quantitative RT-PCR and detection of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) by DCFDA assay. A. precatorius showed very striking inhibition on MDA-MB-231 cells. MTT assay showed more than 75 % inhibition of the cells and treated cells indicated visible laddering pattern with thick compact band. PARP cleavage produced 89 kDa cleavage product which was associated with apoptosis. Flow cytometer exhibited a sub-G0/G1 peak as an indicative of apoptosis. mRNA expression level of apoptosis-related genes p21 and p53 was markedly increased in cells treated with the extract as compared to control. The up-regulation of p21 and p53 may be the molecular mechanisms by which A. precatorius extract which induces apoptosis. An increase in the concentration of A. precatorius extract does not generate ROS, instead it reduces ROS formation in MDA-MB-231 cells, as evident from the shift in fluorescence below untreated control. This is the first report showing that A. precatorius leaf extract exhibits a growth inhibitory effect by induction of apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells. Our results contribute towards validation of the A. precatorius extract as a potentially effective chemopreventive or therapeutic agent against breast cancer.

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The Value of Plants Used in Traditional Medicine for Drug Discovery

Cited by 590 publications

References 46 publications

Apoptosis-mediated antiproliferative activity of friedolanostane triterpenoid isolated from the leaves of Garcinia celebica against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines

Apoptosis-mediated antiproliferative activity of friedolanostane triterpenoid isolated from the leaves of Garcinia celebica against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines

Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants from Vellore district, Tamil nadu, India

Cytotoxic and pro-apoptotic effects of Abrus precatorius L. on human metastatic breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231

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