euphorbia-factor-l1 and n-hexane

The seeds of Euphorbia lathyris are used in traditional Chinese medicines for the treatment of various medical conditions. E. lathyris contains many natural diterpenes with a lathyrane skeleton.. Five lathyrane-type diterpenoids named Euphorbia factors L. An ethanolic extract of seeds of Euphorbia lathyris was prepared and separated into petroleum ether, EtOAc, n-butanol, and n-hexane extracts. The natural diterpenes were isolated by using silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography as well as preparative thin-layer chromatography. Saponification of 2 gave tetraol derivative 6. Cytotoxic activity was determined by the sulforhodamine B (SRB) colorimetric assay. Mechanism of action studies focused on the impact of compounds on the cell cycle progression as well as cell morphology.. Compound 5 exhibited the strongest cytotoxicity against all cell lines, while compound 2 showed selectivity against KB-VIN. In cells treated with 3 and 5, accumulation of G1 to early S phase cells was obvious, while no effect was seen on G2/M phase.. Analysis of the screening data compared with compound structures suggested that the substitutions at C-3, C-5, C-7, and C-15 are critical for cytotoxicity, as well as cell type-selectivity. Furthermore, results of cytotoxic mechanism analysis demonstrated for the first time that compounds 3 and 5 disrupted normal cell cycle progression, whereas compounds 2‒5 induced obvious actin filament aggregation, as well as partial interference of the microtubule network.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; Cell Line, Tumor; Chromatography, Thin Layer; Diterpenes; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Euphorbia; Hexanes; Humans; MCF-7 Cells; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Molecular Structure; Phenylpropionates; Seeds; Structure-Activity Relationship