Acute oral toxicity of damnacanthal and its anticancer activity against colorectal tumorigenesis.

Damnacanthal is an anthraquinone, extracted, and purified from the root of Morinda citrifolia in Thailand. This study aimed to measure acute oral toxicity and to investigate the anticancer activity of damnacanthal in colorectal tumorigenesis. We found that the growth of human colorectal cancer cells was inhibited by damnacanthal in a dose- and a time-dependent manner. The growth inhibitory effect of damnacanthal was better than that of 5-FU used as a positive control in colorectal cancer cells, along with the downregulation of cell cycle protein cyclin D1. Similarly, an oral treatment of damnacanthal effectively inhibited the growth of colorectal tumor xenografts in nude mice, which was approximately 2-3-fold higher as compared to 5-FU by tumor size as well as expression of bioluminescence. Furthermore, the study of acute oral toxicity in mice exhibited a relatively low toxicity of damnacanthal with a LD50 cut-off value of 2500 mg/kg according to OECD Guideline 423. These results reveal the potential therapeutic activity of a natural damnacanthal compound as an anti-colorectal cancer drug.

In vitro HIV type 1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory activities of Thai medicinal plants and Canna indica L. rhizomes.

Water and 80% ethanol extracts of 20 Thai medicinal plants used to treat AIDS were tested for their HIV type 1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory activity. The water extracts of Ipomoea carnea subsp. fistulosa (aerial parts), Vitex glabrata (branch), Vitex trifolia (aerial part), Vitex negundo (aerial part), Canna indica (rhizome), and Justicia gendarussa (aerial part) showed HIV-1 RT inhibition ratio (% IR) higher than 90% at a 200 microg/ml concentration. The water extract of Canna indica rhizomes (IC(50) 22.56 microg/ml) was selected for further study, i.e. for its HIV-1 RT inhibition activity and the purification and characterization of the active proteins. Proteins in water extract were fractionated by ammonium sulfate precipitation and separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate acrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), yielding two proteins, Cip31 (31 kDa) and Cip14 (14 kDa) with IC50 of 17.41 and 19.25 microg/ml and isoelectric point (pI) of 3.5 and 6.35, respectively. Both proteins showed significant HIV-1 RT inhibition.