Further constituents from Ammoides atlantica (Coss. & Durieu) H. Wolff and their cytotoxic activity evaluation

Ammoides altantica (Coss. & Durieu) H.Wolff (Apiaceae) is a herbaceous plant endemic to Algeria, where it is consumed as a spice or used as an ethnobotanic remedy against headache, fever, and diarrhea [1]. Few chemical studies on the plant aerial parts are available in the literature, reporting the chemical composition of essential oil [2] and polar extracts, rich in flavonoids and phenolic acids [3]. Antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties were attributed to the investigated plant extracts [4]. The aim of the present study was the investigation of non polar constituents of A. altantica aerial parts along with their cytotoxicity evaluation. The dried plant material was defatted with n-hexane and extracted with CHCl3 to obtain a raw extract successively fractionated by silica gel column chromatography and RP-HPLC for the isolation of pure compounds. The separation process was assisted by a quali-quantitative analytical investigation by UHPLC coupled to an Orbitrap-based HR-MS. Seven new terpenoids, together with eight known sesquiterpenoids were finally isolated and characterized by 1D and 2D NMR, as well as HR-MS experiments. All compounds were assayed in human tumor cell lines. The known sesquiterpenes epi-tanaphilin, 9α-acetoxyartecanin, and apressin showed a significant dose-dependent reduction in cell viability on most of the cell lines, especially in A549, A375, and Jurkat. The two most abundant and active compounds, epi-tanaphilin and 9α-acetoxyartecanin, were investigated for their effect on apoptosis and cell cycle. Results showed that both compounds induced a significant (p < 0.001) increase of apoptotic response in a dose-dependent manner.