Austroplenckia populnea (Celastraceae) on human cancer cells

In general, a plant extract contains low concentrations of active compounds and a large number of promising but undiscovered compounds [1]. A widely observed and accepted fact about the medicinal value of plants is mainly the bioactivity of the phytocomponents present in it. Although a major effort towards of the elucidation of bioactive phytochemicals is from purification of plant materials, very few screening programs have been initiated in crude plant materials, which could yield a significant number of active extracts. Also, there is a need for developing new easy to use sensitive bioassays for screening these bioactive phytocompounds [2]. Some studies with species of the Celastraceae family show positive results for the anticancer activity [3,4]. Constituents isolated from species of the Celastraceae family such as sesquiterpenes, agarofurans and pentacyclic triterpenes present proven antitumoral properties [5-7]. Among these triterpenes, it has been reported that tingenone and pristimerin, frequently found in different species of the Celastraceae family, present potential properties against cancer cell lines [3].