Cytotoxic activity of major compounds from Phaleria macrocarpa (Scheff.) Boerl. fruits

Abstract

P. macrocarpa is a well known Indonesian medicinal plant which is traditionally claimed to have anticancer properties. To date, there are numerous cytotoxic studies conducted on crude extracts of this plant. However, there are limited informations available regarding cytotoxic activity of the compounds isolated from this plant. Thus, this study investigated cytotoxic activity of two benzophenones derivatives identified as 2,6,4′-trihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (1) and 6,4′-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2) isolated from the ethyl acetate extract. Cytotoxic activities of these compounds were performed against human cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa) and mouse embryonic fibroblast cell line (3T3) using MTT assay. The result showed that benzophenone (1) exhibited low cytotoxic effect against HeLa and 3T3 cell lines with IC50 values of 132 μg/ml and 158 μg/ml, repectively while benzophenone (2) was non toxic against HeLa and 3T3 cell lines are because the IC50 is more than 250 μg/ml. These findings may sheds light on the actual properties of this plant. © 2013 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved.