Rumex acetosella L. (Polygonaceae) has a usage in folk medicine for the cancer treatment taking a part in the composition of Essiac tea in Canada [1]. Traditional uses of its extracts were also confirmed in previous study [2]. The constituents of the plant may account for its cytotoxicity. In the present study, we searched the cytotoxicities of the isolated compounds RAN-2, RAN-6, RAB-4, RAT-1, RAA-2, RAA-3, RAA-4 from the roots of R. acetosella. The compounds were gained by using various chromatography methods as Sephadex column chromatography (SPH), normal phase silica gel column chromatography (SK), reverse phase column chromatography including vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) or medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) and determined by NMR, IR, mass spectras and optical rotations measurements. They were elucidated as (E)-piceid, musizin-/nepodin-8-O-β-glucopyranosid, rumejaposide G/H diastereomeric mixture, catechin/ flavan-3-ol, emodin, emodin-8-O-β-D-glucosid and the mixture of chrysophanol-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside and physcion-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, respectively. Initially we investigated their cytotoxicity with preliminary studies. Therefore we conducted Resazurin reduction assay on CCRF-CEM and CEM/ADR5000 leukemia cells at 10 μg/ml. None showed notable cytotoxicity to deserve going further researches on.
Keywords: Rumex acetosella L., cytotoxicity, Resazurin assay, column chromatography
Acknowledgments: This study was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) 2214-A scholarship.
References
[1] Leonard SS, Keil D, Mehlman T, Proper S, Shi, XL, Harris GK. J Ethnopharmacol 2006; 103: 288-296
[2] Wegiera M, Smolarz HD, Bogucka-Kocka A. Acta Pol Pharm 2012; 69: 487-499