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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #363476
Research Project: Biting Arthropod Surveillance and Control

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: The cytotoxicity and insecticidal activity of extracts from Delphinium formosum Boiss. & Huet

Author
item SEN-UTSUKARCI, BURCU - Istanbul University
item Tabanca, Nurhayat
item ESTEP, ALDEN - Navy Entomology Center Of Excellence, Cmave Detachment
item AKBAL-DAGISTAN, OZLEM - Istanbul University
item KESSLER, SONJA - Saarland University
item OZTURK, ZEHRA - Ministry Of Agriculture - Turkey
item BECNEL, JAMES - Retired ARS Employee
item KIEMER, ALEXANDRA - Saarland University
item MAT, AFIFE - Istanbul University

Submitted to: Istanbul Journal of Pharmacy
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/30/2019
Publication Date: 1/6/2020
Citation: Sen-Utsukarci, B., Tabanca, N., Estep, A.S., Akbal-Dagistan, O., Kessler, S.M., Ozturk, Z., Becnel, J.J., Kiemer, A.K., Mat, A. 2020. The cytotoxicity and insecticidal activity of extracts from Delphinium formosum Boiss. & Huet. Istanbul Journal of Pharmacy. 49(3):148-153. https://doi.org/10.26650/IstanbulJPharm.2019.19034.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26650/IstanbulJPharm.2019.19034

Interpretive Summary: Plant species have been a source of novel compounds that may possess anti-cancer or insecticidal properties based on similarity to other compounds. Historically, numerous effective anti-cancer drugs and insecticides have been identified initially in plants. These effects have not been evaluated in Delphinium formosum, a noxious plant native to Turkey. In this study, chemicals were isolated from roots, aerial parts, and flowers and tested for toxicity against a Human cancer cell line and for insecticidal activity against the Yellow Fever mosquito. While 12 compounds were isolated and tested, only one compound isolated from the aerial portions of Delphinium, showed cytotoxic activity. This may be a potential candidate for further study.

Technical Abstract: Delphinium species are well-known toxic plants with their diterpenoid alkaloid contents similar to Aconitum and Consolida species. However, there has been no previous investigation on the cytotoxicity of this endemic species, Delphinium formosum Boiss. & Huet, against cancer cell lines. The extracts of the aerial parts, roots, and flowers of Delphinium formosum, an endemic species in Trabzon (Turkey), were investigated for their cytotoxic activity against the human liver carcinoma cell line (HepG2) and primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The cytotoxic effects of twelve extracts and subfractions from D. formosum were determined against HepG2 cells using MTT assay. The only active extract against HepG2 was applied to the HUVEC as a model for healthy cells. Only one of the alkaloid-containing extracts from the aerial parts was toxic (IC50 = 244,9 µg/mL against HepG2 and 144,4 µg/mL against HUVEC), while the root extracts were inactive. Due to the diterpenoid alkaloid content of Delphinium species, we expected distinct cytotoxic actions when testing their effect on HepG2 cells. The results were improbable although it’s predicted secondary metabolites, such as diterpene alkaloids (methyllycaconitine, browniine, lycoctonine, avardharidine, antranoyllycoctonine, delsemine A/B and lycoctonine). Based on previous studies in literature, the cytotoxic plants were also expected to exhibit insecticidal activity. Therefore, the cytotoxic extract of D. formosum was examined for its adulticidal and larvicidal activity against the yellow fever, dengue fevers and Zika virus vector Aedes aegypti L.