Cytotoxic activity of a new lupane triterpene from Salvia buchananii roots

The genus Salvia belongs to the Lamiaceae, a large cosmopolitan family comprising about 252 genera and 7200 species1. Various species of Salvia are used as flavorings, food condiments, cosmetics, and as herbal medicine for their antibacterial, antiviral, antitumor, spasmolytic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activity2. In the course of our studies on Lamiaceae3 we carried out both chemical study and cytotoxic activity of Salvia buchananii roots from Algeria. The phytochemical study of S. buchananii roots, allowed the isolation of one new pentacyclic triterpene, named 2,3-epoxy-2-hydroxy lup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (1) from the chloroform extract, along with heptadienic acid (2) and maslinic acid. In addition, phenolic derivatives, such as caffeic acid, caffeic acid methyl ester, and nepetoidin B were isolated from the chloroform-methanol extract, after submission to flash column chromatography followed by RP-HPLC. The structures of all compounds were determined by combination of NMR and MS analyses and comparison of data with those reported in the literature. Compounds 1 and 2 were investigated for their potential cytotoxic activity on HeLa and Jurkat cell lines. Both compounds showed a good antiproliferative activity with similar potency in all cell lines. By means of flow cytometric studies, compound 2 induced in HeLa cells a S cell cycle block, while 1 elicited both cytostatic and cytotoxic responses.