Palmatine from Unexplored Rutidea parviflora Showed Cytotoxicity and Induction of Apoptosis in Human Ovarian Cancer Cells

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 11; no. 4; p. 237
• Main Authors: Johnson-Ajinwo, Okiemute Rosa, Richardson, Alan, Li, Wen-Wu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25.04.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Annexin V; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - pharmacology; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Berberine Alkaloids - pharmacology; Bioactive compounds; Bioassays; Biocompatibility; Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Caspase-3; Cell Line, Tumor; Chromatography; Cisplatin; Cross-resistance; Cytotoxicity; Drug resistance; Enzymes; Evaluation; FDA approval; Female; Flow cytometry; Fractionation; Herbal medicine; Humans; Iodides; Liquid chromatography; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; NMR; NMR spectroscopy; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Ovarian cancer; Ovarian Neoplasms - drug therapy; Palmatine; Phytochemicals; Plant Bark - chemistry; Plant extracts; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant species; Propidium iodide; Prostate cancer; Ribose; Rubiaceae; Rutidea parviflora; Scientific imaging; Sulforhodamine; Toxicity; Tumor cell lines; Western blotting; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Palmatine; Rutidea parviflora; Apoptosis; Ovarian cancer
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins11040237

Ovarian cancer ranks amongst the deadliest cancers in the gynaecological category of cancers. This research work aims to evaluate in vitro anti-ovarian cancer activities and identify phytochemical constituents of a rarely explored plant species- DC. The aqueous and organic extracts of the plant were evaluated for cytotoxicity using sulforhodamine B assay in four ovarian cancer cell lines and an immortalized human ovarian epithelial (HOE) cell line. The bioactive compounds were isolated and characterized by gas/liquid chromatography mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Caspase 3/7 activity assay, western blotting and flow cytometry were carried out to assess apoptotic effects of active compounds. The extracts/fractions of showed promising anti-ovarian cancer activities in ovarian cancer cell lines. A principal cytotoxic alkaloid was identified as palmatine whose IC was determined as 5.5-7.9 µM. Palmatine was relatively selective towards cancer cells as it was less cytotoxic toward HOE cells, also demonstrating interestingly absence of cross-resistance in cisplatin-resistant A2780 cells. Palmatine further induced apoptosis by increasing caspase 3/7 activity, poly-ADP-ribose polymerase cleavage, and annexin V and propidium iodide staining in OVCAR-4 cancer cells. Our studies warranted further investigation of palmatine and extracts in preclinical models of ovarian cancer.