Antitumor potential of Euphorbia umbellata latex fractions and subfractions

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the antitumor potential of the acetate and chloroform fraction and its subfractions in methanol, dichloro, ether and ethanol extracted from Euphorbia umbellata. The cytotoxicity of these fractions and subfractions was evaluated by the MTT colorimetric assay after 24h at different concentrations ranging from 2-30 μg/mL, also the mitochondrial electrical potential by confocal microscopy. In addition, the cell cycle, the percentage of DNA fragments and the mitochondrial electrical potential, was quantified by flow cytometry. In this context, our results suggest that the cytotoxicity of fractions and subfractions occurs due to modulation of the apoptotic pathway, a fact that corroborates with already identified compounds of chemical alkaloid groups, the fractions being separated by acetate and chloroform as well as the ether and methanol subfractions cytotoxic effects for the tumor cells studied.