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

Mitsuhiro Numata; Akihiko Yamamoto; Atsuko Moribayashi; Hiromi Yamada

doi:10.1055/s-2006-959500

Planta Medica, Table of Contents

Planta Med 1994; 60(4): 356-359
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-959500

Papers

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

Abstract

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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

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