Cytotoxic activities of Salvia plants of the Labiatae family

Eight crude extracts of five Salvia species were evaluated for cytotoxic activities against brine shrimps and four human cancer cell lines [human colon adenocarcinoma (HCA), HepG2, MCF-7, and human pancreatic carcinoma (HPC) along with a normal mouse cell line (areolar cells)] as a control. In the brine shrimp lethality test, all samples, except S. fruticosa L. (Sifnos collection) and S. verbenaca L. (Zante collection), were found to be highly active with ED 50 values less than 30 μg/ml. In the case of human cancer cell lines, S. fruticosa, collected from Kalymnos and Crete, were active against HCA cells with LC50 = 60.4 and 40.1 μg/ml respectively. Interestingly, only one sample, S. fruticosa collected from Kalymnos, was active against HepG2 cells with LC50 = 68.1 μg/ml. In the case of MCF-7 cells, S. fruticosa collected from three different locations (Kalymnos, Rhodos, and Crete) showed similar activity with LC50 = 43.1, 41.1, and 423 μg/ml, respectively. All S. fruticosa samples were found to be cytotoxic toward a normal mouse cell line when tested at 0.1 mg/ml. All the other samples had LC50 values greater than 75 μg/ml, and were, considered to be inactive. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd

Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities of Hypericum sp. on Brine Shrimps and Human Cancer Cell Lines

Ten different samples of five Hypericum sp. were tested on brine shrimps, human colon carcinoma and human hcpatoma cell lines for their cytotoxic activities. H. triquetrifoliiim Turra. (Rafina) showed the highest activity (LC50 = 22 mg/niL) on brine shrimps, while the extracts of the other nine samples showed significant to moderate activities (LCso from 37 to 107 mg/mL). /J. einpelrifoliiim Wild. (Parnon) showed the highest activity in human colon carcinoma and human hepatoma cell lines, with LCSO values 29 and 25.1 mg/mL, respectively, while the LC50 values of the other samples were more than 45 mg/mL. It is very interesting to observe that most Hypericum samples showed good antioxidant activity in vitro. Copyright ©2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Development of a modified hollow fibre assay for studying agents targeting the tumour neovasculature.

NoBackground: Previous studies have shown extensive vascularisation surrounding subcutaneously implanted fibres when the duration of the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) hollow fibre assay was prolonged. Materials and Methods: The feasibility of adapting the NCI assay for evaluating agents targeting the tumour vasculature was investigated in vitro and in vivo. Finally, in the optimised assay, changes in neovasculature formation around the fibres following treatment with the anti-vascular agent paclitaxel were quantified by immunohistochemistry. Results: Correlations between cell number seeded, time in culture and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion were seen. In vivo studies showed that transplanting single rather than 3 fibres at a site reduced inflammation, reducing the length of the fibre transplanted, as did without any significant loss in cell growth over 21 days. A statistically significant reduction in neovascularisation surrounding the fibres was seen accompanying paclitaxel treatment. Conclusion: Modifications made here to the NCI hollow fibre assay demonstrate its potential for analysing anti-tumour vasculature agents

Pharmacological activities of some Argyranthemum species growing in the Canary Islands

Methanolic extracts of eight subspecies of genus Argyranthemum were evaluated against brine shrimps, human cancer cell lines, malarial parasites and microorganisms under in vitro conditions. In the shrimp assay, samples of A. adauctum ssp. adauctum, A. adauctum ssp. erythrocarpon and A. frutetescens ssp. succulentum were active with ED50 values in the range of around 300 to 360 μg/ml. In the Caco-2, HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines, the samples A. adauctum ssp. jacobaeifolium and A. adauctum ssp. palmensis were active with LC50 values ranging between 80-90 μg/ml. The secondary assay results of antimalarial activity of samples, A. adauctum ssp. adauctum, A. adauctum ssp. dugourii, A. adauctum ssp. erythrocarpon and A. adauctum ssp. jacobaeifolium have IC50 values <50 μg/ml. The samples demonstrated broad specific antimicrobial activity against five different microorganisms. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd