Cytotoxic activity of coumarins from Micromelium minutum

• Main Authors: Susidarti, Ratna Asmah, Rahmani, Mawardi, Mohd Ismail, Hazar Bebe, Md. Sukari, Mohd Aspollah, Yap, Taufiq Yun Hin, Ee, Gwendoline Cheng Lian, Ali, Abdul Manaf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Informa Healthcare 2009
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/13854/1/Cytotoxic%20activity%20of%20coumarins%20from%20Micromelium%20minutum.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/13854/; http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13880200802436513
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

The crude petroleum ether and chloroform extracts of Micromelum minutum (G. Frost.) Wright & Arn (Rutaceae) showed strong cytotoxic activity when tested against a T-lymphoblastic leukemia cell line. Further fractionation of the extracts resulted in the isolation of five new coumarins 3″,4″-dihydrocapnolactone, 2′,3′-epoxyisocapnolactone, 8-hydroxyisocapnolactone-29,39-diol, 8-hydroxy-3″,4″-dihydrocapnolactone-29,39-diol and 8,4″-dihydroxy-3″,4″-dihydrocapnolactone-29,39-diol, and two triterpenes. Some of these compounds were strongly active against T-lymphoblastic leukemia (CEM-SS), promyeolocytic leukemia (HL60), cervical cancer (HeLa) and liver cancer (HepG2) cell lines. 8-Hydroxyisocapnolactone-29,39-diol was found to be the most active with IC50 values of 2.9, 2.5, 6.9, and 5.9 μg/ml, respectively. This was followed by 2′,3′-epoxyisocapnolactone. When evaluated against the normal mouse fibroblast (3T3) cell line, 8-hydroxyisocapnolactone-29,39-diol was found to be inactive, hence it could serve as a valuable lead for further design and synthesis of more active analogues.