Background: Eight plant species from Oaxaca, some of them used in traditional medicine, were subjected to screening
of several biological activities to provide data regarding their anticancer potential, although no scientific information is
available about their pharmacological effects.
Materials and methods: Methanol extracts from stems or roots of the eight plants were tested for antioxidant activity
by the DPPH· method. Antimicrobial activity was determined using the agar diffusion method and the minimal
inhibitory concentration (MIC) was obtained by broth dilution method. Antitopoisomerase activity was assessed using
mutant strains of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
JN362a, JN394, JN394t
-1, JN394t
2-4 and JN394t
2-5. The mutagenic activity
was evaluated using the Ames test (
Salmonella typhimurium
TA1535).
Results: No extract showed significant antioxidant activity. The best antimicrobial activity was observed for
Salpianthus arenarius
(MIC 56.25 μg/mL) and
Lantana achyranthifolia
(MIC 78.12 μg/mL) against
Staphylococcus aureus
. Extracts of
Acalypha cuspidata
,
Alloispermum integrifolium
and
L. achyranthifolia stems showed
antitopoisomerase II activity with JN394
t-1 growth of -30.88±0.0%, -38.11±4.95%, and -70.97±12.02% respectively.
Galium mexicanum
stem extract showed antitopoisomerase I activity with growth of 35.31±6.36% on the same mutant
strain. All plant extracts were non-mutagenic. Fractionation of
A. cuspidata extract led to identification of two
subfractions with antitopoisomerase I and II activity at 154μg/mL (Positive controls 50 and 100μg/mL).
Conclusion: Methanol extracts of
A. cuspidata,
A. integrifolium,
G. mexicanum, and
L. achyranthifolia stems showed
antitopoisomerase and non-mutagenic activities, and consequently could be promising as a source of anticancer drugs.
