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Phytochemical Studies and Bioactivity Tests of Murraya paniculata Jack, Aegle marmelos Correa, and Zingiber amaricans Blume
Abstract:
Southeast Asian countries are very rich in biodiversity with thousands of plant species of which only a small proportion have been investigated in detail. This research was carried out to investigate the chemical constituents and bioactivities of three well-known medicinal plants Murraya paniculta Jack, Aegle marmelos Correa (Rutaceae) and Zingiber amaricans Blume (Zingiberaceae).
Leaves and stem bark of M. paniculata; leaves, bark, and root of A. marmelos; and rhizomes of Z. amaricans were separately extracted with various solvents. The extracts and isolated pure compounds were examined for their bioactivity against microbes and cancer cell line. Cytotoxic assay was performed against CEM-SS (human T-lymphoblastic leukemia) cell line with MTT reagent while antimicrobial tests were conducted by diffusion method against a list of the pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated by using spectroscopic methods.
Eight compounds were isolated from M. paniculata and identified as auraptene, stigmasterol, ß-sitoserol, sucrose, and methoxylated flavones including 3,3’,4’,5,5’,6,7,8-octamethoxyflavone, 3,3’4’,5,5’,6,7-heptamethoxyflavone 3,3’,4’,5,5’,7-hexamethoxyflavone, and 3’,4’,5,5’,7-pentamethoxyflavone. The study on A. marmelos afforded eleven compounds: ß-sitoserol, stigmasterol, hopane triterpenes including zeorin and dustanin, alkaloids aegeline and skimmianin, epilupeol, lupenone and coumarin derivatives, auraptene, epoxyauraptene, and marmin. By employing the same procedures, the extracts of Z. amaricans afforded zerumbone as the major constituent, together with cholesterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, and ß-sitoserol.
The results of antimicrobial and cytotoxic tests revealed that some of the extracts showed strong activities. Nevertheless, most of the isolated compounds showed only weak activity. The cytotoxic test results on dustanin and epilupeol showed moderate activity with IC50 values of 1.19 10-2 μmol/ml and 1.43 10-2 μmol/ml, respectively. The results obtained for other compounds revealed weak cytotoxic activity as indicated by their IC50 values: zerumbone (6.88 10-2 μmol/ml), zeorin (3.76 10-2 μmol/ml), lupenone (4.08 10-2 μmol/ml), marmin (6.66 10-2 μmol/ml), and aegeline (7.58 10-2 μmol/ml).