CYTOTOXIC AND ANTITUMOR PRINCIPLES FROM IXORA-COCCINEA FLOWERS

The antitumour activity of Ixora coccinea L. (Rubiaceae) flowers was s tudied in comparison to intraperitoneally transplanted Dalton's lympho ma (ascitic and solid rumours) and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tum ours in mice. Intraperitoneal administration of 200 mg/kg of the activ e fraction (AF) of the I. coccinea flower increased the life-span of D LA and EAC ascitic tumour-bearing mice by 113 and 68%, respectively. T he AF showed less activity against solid rumours (DLA) as compared to ascitic rumours. The same active fraction showed 50% cytotoxicity to D LA, EAC and Sarcoma-180 (S-180) cells in vitro at concentrations of 18 , 60 and 25 mu g/ml, respectively. It was not toxic to normal lymphocy tes, whereas it was toxic to transformed lymphocytes from leukaemic pa tients, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and chronic myelogenous le ukaemia (CML) and K-562 suspension cell cultures. The AF inhibited tri tiated thymidine incorporation in cellular DNA. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.