ABSTRACT

Musanga cecropioides is a medicinal plant reputed for its application in the management of many ailments in ethnomedicine. As a plant member of Urticaceae which contains some plants with reported anti-cancer properties, this study investigated its stem bark for probable anti-cancer properties through anti-proliferative, cytotoxicity, and AU565 breast cancer cell line evaluations.

Preliminary screening of the aqueous extract was carried out using bench-top assay methods for cytotoxicity involving the use of tadpoles (Raniceps raninus) at concentration of 20-400 µg/mL and anti-proliferation/growth inhibitory using radicles of Sorghum bicolor seeds at concentration of 1-30 mg/mL. The extract was further tested on the AU565 breast cancer cell line at a concentration of 50 µg/mL. The extract was partitioned into aqueous and chloroform fractions and the two fractions were screened for cytotoxic, anti-proliferative, and anti-cancer activities. Vacuum liquid chromatography and other chromatographic evaluations of the aqueous fraction led to the isolation of two compounds one of which was tested on AU565 breast cancer cell line. The compounds were subjected to Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometric analysis to determine their respective identities.

The extract and the fractions produced significant (p < 0.05) concentration-dependent cytotoxic and anti-proliferative/growth inhibitory effects on tadpoles and guinea corn radicle respectively. The extract and the aqueous fraction produced 100% mortality on the tadpoles at a concentration of 40 µg/mL in less than 5 hrs. At 96 hrs incubation period, the radicle length of 47.24 ± 0.48 produced by the control seeds was reduced 17.56 ± 0.41, 14.33 ± 0.21, 5.73 ± 0.14, 5.73 ± 0.14, 3.43 ± 0.01 and 3.15 ± 0.01 mm in the seeds treated with 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30 mg/mL of the extract respectively. These implied percentage reduction of 62.8%, 69.7%, 87.9%, 87.9%, 92.7% and 93.3% respectively. The aqueous fraction showed a similar pattern and better than the chloroform fraction. The aqueous fraction also showed higher anti-cancer effects than the other fractions. It produced 28% cytotoxicity on AU565 cancer cell lines at a concentration of 50 µg/mL. The two isolated compounds were identified as Catechin and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid. The formal showed 20.86% cytotoxicity.

The results showed that Catechin is one of the anti-cancer constituents of M.

cecropioides.