Planta Med 2012; 78 - PI140
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1320827

Antitumor effect of Croton lechleri Mull. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae)

AJ Alonso-Castro 1, 2, E Ortiz-Sánchez 2, F Domínguez 3, G López-Toledo 2, M Chávez 4, A de Jesús Ortiz-Tello 2, A García-Carrancá 2, 5
  • 1Facultad de Química, UNAM, DF México
  • 2INCAN, DF México
  • 3CIBIOR, Puebla, México
  • 4CMN Siglo XXI, IMS S, México DF
  • 5Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, UNAM, DF

We evaluated the acute toxicity in mice, the cytotoxic and antitumoral effects of methanolic extracts of Croton lechleri leaves (CLE). CLE showed low IC50 values on HeLa (17µg/ml) cells but lack toxic effects against human normal cells. Induction of cell death in HeLa cells by CLE was confirmed by an increase of apoptosis (Annexin/PI) by 30% compared to untreated cells. The LD50 was 356mg/kg by intraperitoneal route (i.p.) and 500mg/kg by oral route. CLE administrated at 1, 10 and 50mg/kg i.p. inhibited the tumor growth by 38%, 48% and 59%, respectively, in mice bearing HeLa tumor.