Full Length Research Paper
Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the antitumor activity of Anacardium humile A. St.-Hil., Brosimum gaudichaudii Trécul and Tabebuia avellanedae Lorentz ex Griseb species, which are distributed in the Cerrado region of Brazil. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were also conducted on the bark and leaf extracts and antioxidant and cytotoxic activities were studied. The results showed that the bark and leaf extracts of A. humile exhibited the highest contents of phenolic compounds and optimal antioxidant activity. The leaf extract of T. avellanedae had the highest content of flavonoids, displayed high efficiency as a ferrous ion chelating agent and inhibited the growth of the human laryngeal carcinoma (HEp-2) cell line by 88.0% at the concentration of 50 µg/ml. The leaves of B. gaudichaudii had higher levels of condensed tannins, flavonoids and coumarins compared with that of the bark. There was a correlation between inhibition of the NCI- human lung cancer (H292) cell line and the content of condensed tannins and antiradical activity and also between the inhibition of human colon carcinoma (HT-29) cell growth and the antioxidant and chelating activity of ferrous ion. Our data provide evidence that bark and leaf extracts of A. humile and leaves of T. avellanedae possess anticancer activity; therefore, the isolation and identification of the active ingredients of these plant tissues should be conducted to explore their therapeutic potential.
Key words: Antiproliferative, Hep-2 cells, HT-29 cells, medicinal plants, NCI-H292 cells, phenolic compounds.
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