Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University, Biomedical Centre, Box 574, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2013 Feb 13;145(3):746-57. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2012.12.007. Epub 2012 Dec 8.
Medicinal plants from the Sinai desert are widely used in traditional Bedouin medicine to treat a range of conditions including, cancers, and may thus be useful sources of novel anti-tumor compounds. Information on plants used in this way was obtained through collaboration with Bedouin herbalists.
To document the traditional uses of 61 species from 29 families of Egyptian medicinal plants and to investigate their biological activity using a cytotoxicity assay.
MeOH extracts of the 61 plant species investigated were dissolved in 10% DMSO and their cytotoxic activity was evaluated. The extracts were tested in duplicate on three separate occasions at three different concentrations (1, 10 and 100μg/ml) against human lymphoma U-937 GTB. The most active extract was subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation using HPLC and LC/ESI-MS to isolate and identify its active components.
The most potent extracts were those from Asclepias sinaica, Urginea maritima, Nerium oleander and Catharanthus roseus, followed by those from Cichorium endivia, Pulicaria undulate and Melia azedarach. Literature reports indicate that several of these plants produce cardiac glycosides. Bioassay-guided fractionation of alcoholic U. maritima extracts led to the isolation of a bioactive bufadienolide that was subsequently shown to be proscillaridin A, as determined by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. This result demonstrates the value of plants used in traditional medicine as sources of medicinally interesting cytotoxic compounds.
来自西奈沙漠的药用植物被广泛用于传统贝都因医学中，用于治疗多种疾病，包括癌症，因此可能是新型抗肿瘤化合物的有用来源。这些植物的使用信息是通过与贝都因草药医生合作获得的。
记录来自埃及药用植物 29 科 61 种植物的传统用途，并通过细胞毒性测定研究其生物活性。
将 61 种植物提取物溶解在 10% DMSO 中，用细胞毒性测定法进行检测。在三个不同的时间点，用三个不同的浓度（1、10 和 100μg/ml）在三个不同的时间点对提取物进行两次重复测试，针对人类淋巴瘤 U-937 GTB。对最有效的提取物进行生物活性导向的分离，采用 HPLC 和 LC/ESI-MS 分离和鉴定其活性成分。
最有效的提取物是来自 Asclepias sinaica、Urginea maritima、Nerium oleander 和 Catharanthus roseus 的提取物，其次是来自 Cichorium endivia、Pulicaria undulate 和 Melia azedarach 的提取物。文献报道表明，其中一些植物产生强心苷。对 U. maritima 醇提取物进行生物活性导向分离，得到一种具有生物活性的蟾蜍内酯，随后通过 1D 和 2D NMR 光谱确定其为普罗斯卡林 A。这一结果证明了传统医学中使用的植物作为具有药用价值的细胞毒性化合物的来源的价值。
