Cytotoxic and Pro-Apoptotic Effects of Leaves Extract of Antiaris africana Engler (Moraceae).

Antiaris africana Engler leaves have been used in Senegalese folk medicine to treat breast cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the anticancer potential of Antiaris africana Engler leaves using several human cancer cell lines. The leaves of Antiaris africana Engler were extracted in parallel with water or 70% ethanol and each extract divided into three parts by successive liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and butanol. The phytochemical components of the active extract were investigated using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS). The cytotoxic and cytostatic effects of each extract, as well as their fractions, were evaluated in vitro via flow and image cytometry on different human cancer phenotypes, such as breast (MCF-7), pancreas (AsPC-1), colon (SW-620) and acute monocytic leukemia (THP-1). Both hydro-alcoholic and aqueous extracts induced strong apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. The water fraction of the hydro-alcoholic extract was found to be the most active, suppressing the cell growth of MCF-7 in a dose-dependent manner. The half maximum effective concentration (EC50) of this fraction was 64.6 ± 13.7 µg/mL for MCF-7, with equivalent values for all tested phenotypes. In parallel, the apoptotic induction by this fraction resulted in a EC50 of 63.5 ± 1.8 µg/mL for MCF-7, with again equivalent values for all other cellular tested phenotypes. Analysis of this fraction by UPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS led to the identification of hydroxycinnamates as major components, one rutin isomer, and three cardiac glycosides previously isolated from seeds and bark of Antiaris africana Engler and described as cytotoxic in human cancer models. These results provide supportive data for the use of Antiaris africana Engler leaves in Senegal.

Cannabis sativa Extract Induces Apoptosis in Human Pancreatic 3D Cancer Models: Importance of Major Antioxidant Molecules Present Therein.

In recent years, interest in Cannabis sativa L. has been rising, as legislation is moving in the right direction. This plant has been known and used for thousands of years for its many active ingredients that lead to various therapeutic effects (pain management, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, etc.). In this report, our objective was to optimize a method for the extraction of cannabinoids from a clone of Cannabis sativa L. #138 resulting from an agronomic test (LaFleur, Angers, FR). Thus, we wished to identify compounds with anticancer activity on human pancreatic tumor cell lines. Three static maceration procedures, with different extraction parameters, were compared based on their median inhibitory concentration (IC50) values and cannabinoid extraction yield. As CBD emerged as the molecule responsible for inducing apoptosis in the human pancreatic cancer cell line, a CBD-rich cannabis strain remains attractive for therapeutic applications. Additionally, while gemcitabine, a gold standard drug in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, only triggers cell cycle arrest in G0/G1, CBD also activates the cell signaling cascade to lead to programmed cell death. Our results emphasize the potential of natural products issued from medicinal hemp for pancreatic cancer therapy, as they lead to an accumulation of intracellular superoxide ions, affect the mitochondrial membrane potential, induce G1 cell cycle arrest, and ultimately drive the pancreatic cancer cell to lethal apoptosis.

Quantitative analysis of beta-sitosterol oxides induced in vegetable oils by natural sunlight, artificially generated light, and irradiation.

UV radiation is able to induce lipid peroxidation. Photooxidation-induced beta-sitosterol oxides were monitored in four vegetable oils exposed to sunlight for 10, 20, and 30 days during May 2005 (northeastern France), exposed to artificial light generated by a high-pressure Hg lamp for 21, 42, and 63 h at room temperature, and exposed to a 10 MeV electron beam at 0.93, 2.69, and 9.30 kGy at 8 degrees C. Quantification was performed by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry according to the total ion current mode and using a reconstructed ion trace chromatogram with specific ion fragments. Sunlight induced the formation of higher amounts of oxides than UV light, while no significant oxidizing effect was observed with electron beam irradiation. However, data suggested that the amount of the main oxides formed was strongly dependent on the dose rate (length of exposure). Accordingly, shorter but more intense treatments had lower oxidizing effects.

Identification and quantitative analysis of beta-sitosterol oxides in vegetable oils by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

As vegetable oils and phytosterol-enriched spreads are marketed for frying food or cooking purposes, temperature is one of the most important factors leading to the formation of phytosterol oxides in food matrix. A methodology based on saponification, organic solvent extraction, solid-phase extraction (SPE), followed by mass spectrometric identification and quantitation of beta-sitosterol oxides using capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode was developed and characterized. Relative response factors of six beta-sitosterol oxides, including 7alpha-hydroxy, 7beta-hydroxy, 5,6alpha-epoxy, 5,6beta-epoxy, 7-keto, and 5alpha,6beta-dihydroxysitosterol, were calculated against authentic standards of 19-hydroxycholesterol or cholestanol. Linear calibration data, limit of detection, and sample recoveries during analytical process. Recoveries of these oxidation compounds in spiked samples ranged from 88 to 115%, while relative standard derivation (R.S.D.) values were below 10% in most cases. The analytical method was applied to quantify beta-sitosterol oxides formed in thermal-oxidized vegetable oils which were heated at different temperatures and for varying time periods. Sitosterol oxidation is strikingly higher in sunflower oil relative to olive oil under all conditions of temperature and heating time.