From past generations, our grand and great grandparents have been using plant leaves in different ways to treat colds, coughs, headache, and upset stomach among many others. Therefore, folk medicine has opens the doors for the study of a broad world of natural products for the treatment of diseases. Past studies on several specific kinds of native and endemic plants of Puerto Rico have shown to have growth inhibition activity against some breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. One of the most active plants against these cell lines was Croton discolor showing a growth inhibition &gt; 84% against MCF-7 and T47D cell lines. Croton discolor is a native shrub found in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands from the Euphorbiaceae family. Its common name is lechecillo and its leaves have been used in tea to treat rheumatism and leukemia. We decided to collect leaves and cortex in greater quantity. The aim of this work is to isolate and identify the chemical compounds in leaves and cortex of Croton discolor responsible for the biological activity. The plant was collected, dried and extracted with a mixture of CH2Cl2-MeOH (1:1). The resulting crude extract was suspended in water and extracted with solvents of different polarities. Purification by column chromatography of the chloroform extract of the leaves is in process. Extracts and purified fractions are analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and the purification process is monitored by thin layer chromatography. The cytotoxic activity of all extracts had been tested against different cell lines derived from solid tumors including ovarian (A2780, SKOV3), breast (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231), prostate (PC-3, LNCAP), mammary epithelial cells (MCF-10A), and neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y). The chloroform extract showed the higher cell viability percent results against MDA-MB-231 and SH-SY 5Y cell lines. Other bioactivity results will be presented.

Study of the chemical composition, cytotoxic and antitumor activities of Croton discolor

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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