Abstract
The extract of Artemisia asiatica herb with antiproliferative activity against four human tumor cell lines (A2780,
A431, HeLa, and MCF7) was analyzed by the MTT assay, and bioassay-directed fractionation
was carried out in order to identify the compounds responsible for the cytotoxic activity.
Guaianolide (1–4), seco-guianolide (5), germacranolide (6) and eudesmanolide sesquiterpenes (7), monoterpenes (8, 9), including the new compound artemisia alcohol glucoside (8), and flavonoids (10–16) were isolated as a result of a multistep chromatographic procedure (CC, CPC, PLC,
and gel filtration). The compounds were identified by means of UV, MS, and NMR spectroscopy,
including 1H-and 13C-NMR, 1H-1H COSY, NOESY, HSQC, and HMBC experiments. The isolated compounds 1–16 were evaluated for their tumor cell growth-inhibitory activities on a panel of four
adherent cancer cell lines, and different types of secondary metabolites were found
to be responsible for the cytotoxic effects of the extract. Especially cirsilineol
(13),
3β-chloro-4α,10α-dihydroxy-1α,2α-epoxy-5α,7αH-guai-11(13)-en-12,6α-olide (3), and iso-seco-tanapartholide 3-O-methyl ester (5) exerted marked cytotoxic effects against the investigated cell lines, while jaceosidin
(12), 6-methoxytricin (15), artecanin (2), and 5,7,4′,5′-tetrahydroxy-6,3′-dimethoxyflavone (14) were moderately active. All the sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes are reported here
for the first time from this species, and in the case of artecanin (2), 3α-chloro-4β,10α-dihydroxy-1β,2β-epoxy-5α,7αH-guai-11(13)-en-12,6α-olide (4), ridentin (6), and ridentin B (7), previously unreported NMR spectroscopic data were determined.
Key words
Artemisia asiatica
- Asteraceae - antiproliferative activity - sesquiterpene lactones - monoterpenes
- flavonoids
