Cytotoxic agents from Terminalia arjuna.

Abstract

Although a number of chemicals have been isolated from Terminalia arjuna, only a few have been evaluated for their biological significance. As a part of our drug discovery programme for cytotoxic agents from Indian medicinal plants, four novel cytotoxic agents arjunic acid (1), arjungenin (2), arjunetin (3) and arjunoglucoside I (4) were isolated from the bark of T. ARJUNA. Out of the four compounds, arjunic acid (1) was significantly active against the human oral (KB), ovarian (PA 1) and liver (HepG-2 & WRL-68) cancer cell lines. Further, the most active compound arjunic acid was converted into seven semi-synthetic ester derivatives 5 - 11. 2-O-Palmitoyl arjunic acid (6) showed two times more activity, while 2, 3-di-O-acetyl-, 2-O-p-anisoyl-, 2, 3-di-O-benzoyl- and 2, 3-di-O-p-nitrobenzoyl arjunic acid (7 - 10) showed 1.7 - 2.3 times less activity than the cytotoxic drug vinblastine against the liver cancer cell lines HepG-2 and WRL-68 respectively.

• Authors: Mohit Saxena, Uzma Faridi, Rupal Mishra, M M Gupta, M P Darokar, S K Srivastava, Digvijai Singh, Suaib Luqman, S P Khanuja
• Journal: Planta medica (Planta Med) Vol. 73 Issue 14 Pg. 1486-90 (Nov 2007) ISSN: 0032-0943 [Print] Germany
• PMID: 18008199 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic

Topics

• Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Humans
• Molecular Structure
• Terminalia (chemistry)