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In vitro cytotoxicity, antimicrobial, and metal-chelating activity of triterpene saponins from tea seed grown in Kangra valley, India

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Abstract

This study was undertaken to isolate and characterize saponins from seeds of Camellia sinensis. Four triterpene saponins S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , and S 4 were isolated by chromatography on silica (60–120 mesh), followed by purification on Sep-Pak C-18 columns. The chemical structures (S 1 –S 4 ) were elucidated on the basis of 1-D and 2-D NMR. All the saponins show broad-spectrum antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Issatchenkia orientalis, Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, A. ochraceous, A. parasiticus, A. sydowii, and Trichophyton rubrum. The most susceptible test fungus was T. rubrum inhibited at a minimum inhibitory concentration of 31.25 μg/ml by all the four saponins. Cytotoxicity of these saponins was evaluated by methyl thiazole tetrazolium and sulfo-rhodamine B assays. The saponins when tested against five human cancer cells lines, viz., OVCAR-5 (ovarian carcinoma cells), MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma cells), PC-3 (human prostate cancer cells), Colo-205 (colorectal adenocarcinoma cells), and HL-60 (human promyelocytic leukemia cells) showed high cytotoxicity activity (99 %) by S 1 and S 2 on PC-3 cells at concentration of 100 μg/ml. Similarly, when these saponins were tested against human PBMCs by lymphocytes proliferation assay, none showed significant activity. S 3 (IC50 = 1.72 mg/ml) showed high metal-chelating activity at a concentration of 20 mg/ml.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to the Director, IHBT, Palampur, for providing necessary facilities. Authors acknowledge financial assistance received from CSIR under the project “High value products from agro-forestry resources from Himalayan region and quality product development including facility for evaluation of nutraceutical/value added products.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, 176061, India

    Robin Joshi, Swati Sood, Poonam Dogra, Madhvi Mahendru, Dharmesh Kumar, Shalika Bhangalia, Neeraj Kumar, Shashi Bhushan, Arvind Gulati & Ashu Gulati

  2. CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, 180001, India

    Harish Chandra Pal & Ajit Kumar Saxena

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  1. Robin Joshi
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  2. Swati Sood
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  3. Poonam Dogra
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  6. Shalika Bhangalia
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  12. Ashu Gulati
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Correspondence to Ashu Gulati.

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Joshi, R., Sood, S., Dogra, P. et al. In vitro cytotoxicity, antimicrobial, and metal-chelating activity of triterpene saponins from tea seed grown in Kangra valley, India. Med Chem Res 22, 4030–4038 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-012-0404-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-012-0404-4

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