Purified solasodine and caulophyllumine: A from Solanum mauritianum Scop. Against MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines in terms of cell growth, cell cycle and apoptosis

Abstract

85% of global population depends on herbal medicines for their primarily health needs and it is proved that a major part of ethnic therapy involves the usage of plant based active principles to cure or protect human beings from many human ailments. Solanum mauritianum Scop. a native of South America commonly known as Bug weed get dominated in many hill stations of Kerala. No medicinal utility related with this plant is reported so far. But recently, tribes use the plant to cure skin borne disorders. Solanum, the type genus known for alkaloids. Many alkaloids were isolated from herbals which display antiproliferation and antimetastasis effects on diverse types of cancers both under in vitro and in vivo conditions. In this juncture, present study was designed to fractionate, purify the alkaloids from S. mauritianum and to analyze its antiproliferative potentials against MCF-7 cells (breast adenocarcinoma). Crude alkaloid was isolated, purified by column chromatography yielded a bluish and yellowish coloured fraction caulophyllumine-A and solasodine respectively and was further confirmed by NMR. Both the alkaloids inhibited the growth of MCF-7 cell lines; the most potent one being solasodine with remarkable IC50 values. Further, assays were carried out to analyze the mechanism of antiproliferation using flow cytometry. Interestingly, 25 and 50 µg/mL solasodine displayed an increase in the percentage of cells in the G1 phase and a decrease of cells in S phase of the cell cycle. In addition, Annexin V-FITC/PI analysis revealed a concentration and time dependent increase in the percentage of apoptotic and necrotic cells. In conclusion, purified solasodine obtained from S. mauritianum was more potent against MCF-7 cells, altering the cell cycle progression and inducing apoptosis. Further work is planned to analyze its molecular mechanism of anticancer potentiality.