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Planta Med 1994; 60(4): 356-359
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-959500
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Antitumor Components Isolated from the Chinese Herbal Medicine Coix lachryma-jobi

Mitsuhiro Numata1 , Akihiko Yamamoto2 , Atsuko Moribayashi3 , Hiromi Yamada4
  • 1Department of Bioactive Molecules, National Institute of Health, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162, Japan
  • 2Department of Safety Research on Biologies, National Institute of Health, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162, Japan
  • 3Department of Medical Entomology, National Institute of Health, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162, Japan
  • 4Yakult Central Institute for Microbiological Research, Yaho 1796, Kunitachi, 186, Japan
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Publication History

1993

1993

Publication Date:
04 January 2007 (online)

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Abstract

The seeds of the gramineous plant Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf are a traditional Chinese medicine possessing antitumor activity. An acetone extract of the seeds was fractionated by the aqueous alkali method and by silica gel column chromatography in order to identify the antitumor components. Antitumor activity, as assayed by an in vivo growth inhibition test on a transplantable mouse tumor, was attributed to an acidic fraction. Infrared spectroscopy and gas-liquid chromatography showed that this acidic fraction was composed of four free fatty acids: palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids.

Key words

Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf - Gramineae - antitumor activity - free fatty acids - oleic acid - stearic acid - palmitic acid - linoleic acid