Abstract
Purpose: To isolate new fatty acid esters from Antipathes dichotoma and investigate their cytotoxic effects on HepG2, WI-38, VERO and MCF-7 cells.
Methods: Antipathes dichotoma was collected using scuba at a depth of 10 to 20 m from the Red Sea, and the lyophilized sample (1500 g) was exhaustively extracted thrice using a mixture of chloroform and methanol (1:1, v/v). The extract was concentrated using a vacuum rotatory evaporator to obtain a brown gummy paste which was fractionated on a silica gel chromatography column and further purified using preparative thin layer chromatography (PTLC). The chemical structures of the newly isolated compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods such as infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS). The cytotoxicity of the isolated compounds was examined in HepG2, WI 38, VERO and MCF-7 cell lines.
Results: Three new aliphatic esters namely, (4Z, 7Z, 10Z, 13Z, 16Z)-1-hydroxynonadeca-4, 7, 10, 13, 16-pentaen-2-yl octanoate (1); (4Z, 7Z, 10Z, 13Z, 16Z)-1-hydroxynonadeca-4, 7, 10, 13, 16-pentaen-2-yl decanoate (2) and 1-hydroxynonadecan-2-yl-octanoate (3) were isolated from A. dichotoma. 1 and 2 displayed moderate cytotoxic activities against the examined cell lines with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) ranging from 30.1 to 43.0 mu g/mL, while compound 3 exhibited poor anti-cancer activity.
Conclusion: The results indicate that A. dichotoma is a reservoir of new compounds that have potential anticancer effects.