Cerbera odollam-A Killer Tree, But a Boon to the Human Society

INTRODUCTION

Plant-derived compounds have played an important role in the development of several clinically useful anti-cancer agents. These include vinblastine, vincristine, the camptothecin derivatives, topotecan and irinotecan, etoposide etc.These compounds are safe to use and has no side effects. The present work reveals the presence of such anticancer compounds in Cerbera odollam which could be a boon to the human society in the future.

DESCRIPTION

Cerbera odollam is a poisonous tree belonging to the Apocynacea family and have a mango like fruit which is the most poisonous part of the tree. The tree usually grows in coastal swamps and marshy areas. It grows to a height of 6-15m. It has large white flowers having delicate perfume. It is known by different names such as Kattuarali in Malayalam language used in Kerala;Famentakisopo or samanta in Madagascar;Pongpong in South east Asia.

CLINICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS

Cerbera odollam contain many chemical constituents such as lignans ,cardiac glycosides, terpenoids ,flavonoids , progesteron etc. The plant contain two main glycosides cerberin and odolin.this cerberin blocks the calcium ion channels in heart muscle causing disruption of the heart beat. This is most often fatal and also cerberin is very difficult to identify in autopsies and its taste can be masked using strong spices.M.H.M Amini & R.Hashim found out that different biomass components of Cerbera odollam showed anti-bacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis.

PRESENT STUDY

In 2007 Sitisyarifah reported that the ethyl acetate fraction of Cerbera odollam has the most encouraging anticancer activity. So the present work has been carried to identify the specific active component having this activity in the ethyl acetate fraction.

SAMPLE COLLECTION & EXTRACTION

About 160 g of powdered dried plant material was subjected to extraction successively with hexane & methanol and fractionated with ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate fraction was then separated into different compounds by TLC. About nine different compounds were obtained. These nine compounds were scratched separately and eluted using ethyl acetate. The eluted samples were evaporated under reduced pressure.

MTT Assay

The nine compounds obtained from TLC were tested for their cytotoxic activity on HEK 293 cell lines by MTT assay (a preliminary assay to find out the anticancer property).

 RESULT 

Out of nine compounds screened for cytotoxicity the first, fourth and the eighth compounds showed the highest activity. The 50µg of first, fourth &eighth compounds exhibited 100% of inhibition and 10µg of the same compounds exhibited 55.1%, 62.9%& 58% of inhibition respectively. The fifth & ninth compounds (50µg) also showed high activity with 99.3% and 83.1% of inhibition. The 50 µg of all other compounds showed less activity with percentage of inhibition ranging between 20% to 60%.Of the nine compounds the seventh one showed the least activity.10 µg of the seventh compound showed 0% and the 50 µg of the same compound showed 26% of inhibition.

CONCLUSION

From the present study it is well clear that the first, fourth & eighth compounds are anticancer in nature. Further research studies are needed to isolate and purify these specific active compounds because they can serve as a scaffold for design and synthesis of novel potent, nontoxic, anticancer molecules. So from this research study we can conclude that this tree is actually a boon to the human society.