Wirkstoffe

Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide and the natural products could be a source of bioactive compounds. Passiflora mucronata (PM) belongs to a very known vegetal genus, although, there are no studies about cytotoxic activity or isolated compounds. Different extracts from PM were obtained by liquid-liquid partition (P), Soxhlet (Sox) and supercritical fluid (SFE1-5) extraction techniques, being compared concerning their yields, chemical profile and cytotoxicity. The Sox extracts showed the highest yields (6.03%: hexane; 2.51%: dichloromethane) followed by SFE (from 4.34 to 1.63%) and partitions (1.06 and 2.26%). The hexane partition (HP) showed the best cytotoxic activity against K562 cell line (IC50 = 18.72 µg.mL-1). From HP, the following compounds were identified and analysed its cytotoxic activities: β-amyrin (IC50 = 3.92 µg.mL-1), β-sitosterol (IC50 = 3.37 µg.mL-1), stigmasterol (IC50 = 3.31 µg.mL-1) and oleanolic acid. Stigmasterol induced about 75% of K562 total apoptosis. The compounds were tested against MA-104 cell line and the selective index (SI) attributed (SI >10 for all compounds). This indicates good selectivity to K562 cell line at the expense of MA-104. This is the first time, identifying those compounds to PM .

Background: P. mucronata (Pm) comes from South America, Brazil and is characterized as “Maracujá de Restinga”. It is used in folk medicine for its soothing properties and in treating insomnia. Objective: The present study for the first time analyzed the antioxidant and cytotoxicity of the hydroalcoholic leaves extract and fractions from Pm. Method: The cytotoxicity test will be evaluated by different assays (MTT and CV) against human prostate cancer (PC3) and mouse malignant melanoma (B16F10) cell lines, and the antioxidant test by DPPH method. Results: β-Amyrin, oleanolic acid, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol were isolated of the most active, hexane fraction. These substances were tested against the tumor cell lines: β-sitosterol and stigmasterol showed the most relevant activity to PC3 in CV assay and, oleanolic acid to B16F10 by the MTT assay. In addition, it was possible to indicate that the mode of cell death for stigmasterol, presumably is apoptosis. In terms of antioxidant activity, the hydroalcoholic leaves extract presented higher activity (EC50 133.3 μg/mL) compared to the flower (EC50 152.3 μg/mL) and fruit (EC50 207.9 μg/mL) extracts. By the HPLC-MS, it was possible to identify the presence of flavones in the leaf extract (isoschaftoside, schaftoside, isovitexin, vitexin, isoorientin, orientin). Conclusions: P. mucronata hexane fraction showed promising cytotoxic effect against cancer cell lines, and stigmasterol contributes to this activity, inducing apoptosis of these cells. Furthermore, as other Passiflora species, Pm extract showed antioxidant activity and flavones are its major phenolic compounds.