Preliminary screening of some traditional Zulu medicinal plants for antineoplastic activities versus the HepG2 cell line

Aqueous and methanol extracts of nine traditional Zulu medicinal plants, Ci ssus quandrangularis L., Cyphostemma flaviflorum (Sprague) Descoings, Cypho stemma lanigerum (Harv,) Descoings ex Wild & Drum, Cyphostemma natalitium ( Szyszyl,) J, v, d, Merwe, Cyphostemma sp,, Rhoicissus digitata (L, F,) Gilg & Brandt, Rhoicissus rhomboidea (E, Mey, Ex harv,) Planch, Rhoicissus tome ntosa (Lam,) Wild & Drum, R, tridentata (L, F,) Wild & Drum and Rhoicissus tridentata (L, F,) Wild gr Drum subsp, cuneifolia (Eckl. & Zeyh,) N, R, Urt on, all belonging to the Vitaceae family, were evaluated to determine their therapeutic potentials as antineoplastic agents, The antiproliferative act ivity in vitro against HepG2 cells was determined. Twenty-two of the twenty -seven crude plant extracts showed activities ranging from 25% to 97% inhib ition of proliferation when compared with the control which showed no inhib itory activity. Higher degrees of growth inhibition were found in aqueous r oot extracts in comparison with the methanol extracts of the same plant par ts. The results show potential antineoplastic activity, indicating some sci entific validation for traditional usage. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & S ons, Ltd.