Chemical Constituents of the Ethyl Acetate Extract of <em>Belamcanda chinensis </em>(L.) DC Roots and Their Antitumor Activities

Abstract

An activity-directed fractionation and purification process was used to isolate antitumor compounds from the roots of <em>Belamcanda chinensis </em>(L.) DC. The ethyl acetate extract showed greater antitumor activities than the other extracts, consequently leading to the isolation of 18 compounds identified as <em>b-</em>sitosterol (<strong>1</strong>), dausterol (<strong>2</strong>), quercetin (<strong>3</strong>), kampferol (<strong>4</strong>), shikimic acid (<strong>5</strong>), gallic acid (<strong>6</strong>), ursolic acid (<strong>7</strong>), betulin (<strong>8</strong>), betulonic acid (<strong>9</strong>), betulone (<strong>10</strong>), tectoridin (<strong>11</strong>), irisflorentin (<strong>12</strong>), 4′,5,6-trihydroxy-7-methoxyisoflavone (<strong>13</strong>), tectorigenin (<strong>14</strong>), irilins A (<strong>15</strong>), iridin (<strong>16</strong>), irigenin (<strong>17</strong>), and iristectongenin A (<strong>18</strong>). Compounds <strong>3</strong>–<strong>10</strong>, <strong>13</strong>, and <strong>15</strong> were isolated from <em>B. chinensis </em>for the first time. Compounds <strong>4</strong> and <strong>7</strong>–<strong>10</strong> showed potent cytotoxic activities against PC3, MGC-803, Bcap-37, and MCF-7 cell lines. The mechanism of the antitumor action of compound <strong>7</strong> was preliminarily investigated through acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining, Hoechst 33258 staining, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, which indicated the growth inhibition of MGC-803 cells via the induction of tumor cell apoptosis.

Keywords

• &lt;em&gt;Belamcanda chinensis &lt;/em&gt;(L.) DC
• chemical constituents
• antitumor activity
• cell apoptosis