Abstract

Parmentiera edulis is a traditional medicine plant used for different purposes in Mexico; however its biological effects and their potential mechanisms have not been sufficiently investigated. In the present work, the in vitro cytotoxic and pro-apoptotic potential effects of hexanic extract of Parmentiera edulis bark on the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line were studied. The hexanic extract elicited the most pronounced cytotoxic effect in breast cancer cells, as evaluated by MTT assays performed 72 h after treatment, showing an IC50 value of 94.63 + 1.63 μg/ml. No effects were observed in the immortalized mammary epithelial MCF10A cell line and lymphocytes. The anti-proliferative activity observed following Parmentiera edulis treatment was associated with morphological changes, DNA fragmentation, phosphatidyl serine externalization and activation of caspases 3 and 9, all of them typical characteristics of apoptosis. Our findings demonstrate specific cytotoxic activity of Parmentiera edulis and the apoptosis induction through the intrinsic pathway in the breast cancer cells. Further research is necessary to find out the effective secondary metabolites responsible of cell death induction.

Key words: cancer; MDA-MB-231; apoptosis; caspases.