International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research

The natural anthracene derivative emodin (1,3,8-trihydroxy-6methylanthraquinone) is known as an anticancer agent.In the present work, it was isolated for the first time from the ethanol extract of Rumex confertus leaves, widely used in Armenia as a vegetable.It was purified in two-step lowpressure liquid chromatographya significantly easier and inexpensive procedure compared with those used for emodin purification.The purified preparation was characterized by chemical and TLC analyses, NMR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra.Rather high cytotoxicity toward cultivated primary cells of mice Ehrlich ascites carcinoma was demonstrated for both the ethanol extract (IC 50 = 0.3 ± 0.04 µg/ml), and emodin (IC 50 = 40 ± 10 ng/ml) from Rumex confertus leaves.Along with the anticancer activity, these preparations protected a) hippocampal cells against toxic action of aggregated amyloid Aβ (1-40) and Aβ (1-42) peptides and b) the islet β-cells against death in the presence of aggregated pancreas peptide hormone amylin.The obtained results provide a rationale for developing anticancer, neuroprotective and antidiabetic remedies from the leaves of Rumex confertus. INTRODUCTION:Emodin is a naturally occurring anthraquinone present in numerous plants, molds, and lichens.It is known mainly as an anticancer agent, exhibiting cytotoxic effects on many types of human cancer cell lines with the low IC 50 values.Emodin induces apoptosis, suppresses angiogenesis, impedes metastasis, exerts an antiproliferative effect and inhibits the modulation of the cell cycle in specific oncogene over-expressed cells 1, 2, 3 .Its role in combination with standard chemotherapy drugs to reduce their toxicity and to enhance efficacy is investigated vigorously.