Philippine Journal of Science
149 (1): 115-120, March 2020
ISSN 0031 – 7683
Date Received: 02 Dec 2019

 

Antiproliferative and Antiplasmodial Investigation
of Alphitonia excelsa and Arcangelesia flava

 

Rolly G. Fuentes1,3*, Ana L. Valenciano2, Maria B. Cassera2,

and David G.I. Kingston1

 

1Department of Chemistry and Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA

2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 USA

3Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics,
University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College, 6500 Tacloban City, Philippines

 

*Corresponding author: rgfuentes@up.edu.ph

 

[Download]
Fuentes R et al. 2020. Antiproliferative and Antiplasmodial Investigation of
Alphitonia excelsa and Arcangelesia flava. Philipp J Sci 149(1): 115–120.
https://doi.org/10.56899/149.01.12

 

ABSTRACT

Alphitonia excelsa (Rhamnaceae) and Arcangelesia flava (Menispermaceae) are utilized by locals in Samar island for medicinal purposes. Extracts from twigs of A. excelsa exhibited antiproliferative activity against the A2780 human ovarian cancer cell line, while a stem extract of A. flava had potent activity in an antimalarial screen against the drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum Dd2 strain. Extracts of A. excelsa and A. flava were subjected to activity-guided isolation using column chromatography (silica gel and ODS) and HPLC. A. excelsa yielded betulinic acid (1) as its antiproliferative component, while A. flava gave palmatine (2) and jattrorrhizine (3) as its antiplasmodial components. These compounds were identified based on the comparison of their spectral data [nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy (MS)] with literature values. The IC50 value of betulinic acid against A2780 cells was determined to be 20.6 μM. Both palmatine and jatrorrhizine had strong growth inhibitory activity against P. falciparum Dd2, with IC50 values of 0.41 μM and 0.43 μM, respectively.