NIS - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

WHO monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in the Newly Independent States (NIS)
ated for cytotoxic activity against the human cancer cell lines: human renal
adenocarcinoma (TK-10), human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7)
and human melanoma (UACC-62). The sulforhodamine B assay was
used in this study to assess growth inhibition. The concentrations of extract
(µg/ml) required to inhibit cell growth by 50% were: > 250 (TK-10);
46.5 ± 7.1 (MCF-7) and 46.5 ± 8.2 (UACC-62). The concentrations required
to produce total growth inhibition were: > 250 (TK-10); 97.5 ±
1.8 (MCF-7) and 112.5 ± 2.1 (UACC-62), and the concentrations required
to cause 50% net cell death were: > 250 (TK-10); 207 ± 18.20 (MCF-7)
and 247 ± 12.3 (UACC-62). The results demonstrate that the extract has
weak cytotoxic activity with a certain degree of selectivity against the
tested cells in culture. The results could justify the traditional use of
P. major as an antitumour agent (80).
Wound-healing activity
The dermal application of the non-hydrolysable chromatographic fraction
(10%) from the hexane extract (25%) of dried leaves of P. major significantly
(p < 0.001) accelerated the rate of contraction and epithelialization
of excision wounds in rabbits (81).
The interaction between a pectin-type polysaccharide fraction (PTPF),
isolated from the leaves of P. major, and human complement was tested in
vitro using two different haemolytic complement-fixation tests and two
ELISA methods for detection of complement-activation products. Serum
from 10 human volunteers was used as a complement source. The complement-fixation
tests were designed to measure the concentration of the pectin
necessary to inhibit haemolysis by 50% (ICH 50
). The ELISA tests, for
determination of complement-activation products, utilized a fully activated
serum as a standard. A greater than 200-fold difference in ICH 50
activity
of the PTPF pectin was observed in one of the haemolytic tests when
the individual serum used as the complement-source was varied. By contrast,
the ELISA complement-activation tests showed no significant variation
in activity of the PTPF in relation to the complement serum used. The
level of antibodies against PTPF detected in the complement sera did not
correlate with the ICH 50
activity of PTPF. The results indicate that PTPF
is a potent complement activator with an activity of the same order of magnitude
as that of aggregated human immunoglobulin G. The results might
be related to the wound-healing effect of the leaves of P. major (82).
Toxicology
The median lethal dose (LD 50
) for intragastric administration of an aqueous-ethanol
(1:1) extract of P. major leaves to mice was determined to be
322