Anti-cell proliferation effect of naphthoquinone dimers isolated from Plumbago zeylanica
- Nat Prod Res. 2018 Sep;32(18):2127-2132. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2017.1366476.
- 1. a Faculty of Pharmacy , Meijo University , Tempaku , Japan.
- 2. b Department of Physiology , Aichi Medical University , Nagakute , Japan.
- 3. c Department of Chemistry , National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan.
- 4. d School of Sport and Health Science , Tokai Gakuen University , Miyoshi , Japan.
Study of the chemical constituents of the roots of Plumbago zeylanica L. collected in Taiwan led to the isolation and identification of a new naphthoquinone dimer, plumzeylanone (1), along with eight known compounds (2-9). Nine naphthoquinones isolated from this plant were assayed for cell growth inhibition activity using NALM-6 (human B cell precursor leukaemia), A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma), Colo205 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma) and KB (human epidermoid carcinoma). Plumzeylanone (1), a novel plumbagin dimer, suppressed cell proliferation in only NALM-6 cells (IC50 3.98 μM). However, maritinone (9) showed strong inhibition of cell growth in all cell lines tested (0.12 < IC50 < 9.06 μM). This compound appeared to affect the cell cycle.