Purification of Cucurbitacins D, E, and I from Ecballium Elaterium (L.) A. Rich Fruits and Study of Their Cytotoxic Effects on the AGS Cell Line

Abstract

<br /> <strong><span style="font-size: small;">Background: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The plant Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Rich, belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family which occupies an important position in traditional medicine prescriptions. It has been reported that a freeze-dried aqueous extract of E. elaterium fruits has cytotoxic effects on the AGS human stomach adenocarcinoma cell line. We here focused </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">on anticancer effects of the main chemicals purified from E. elaterium fruits. Materials and Methods: We isolated </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">cucurbitacins D, E, and I from chloroform, and ethyl acetate fractions of a methanolic extract of E. elaterium fruits and assessed their cytotoxic effects on the AGS cell line by MTT assay. The methanolic extract was fractionated to petroleum ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate fractions. The compounds isolated by column chromatography were </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">identified by NMR spectroscopy. Results: After 24 h of incubation with AGS cells, the IC50 values were 0.3, 0.1, and 0.5 μg/ml for cucurbitacins D, E, and I respectively. Conclusions: This finding suggests that because of its cucurbitacins, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">E. elaterium fruit may have some cytotoxic effects on gastric cancer cells. Also, compared with D and I, cucurbitacin E showed greater potency in this regard. </span></span>