Rumex acetosella L. (Polygonaceae) has a usage in folk medicine for the cancer treatment taking a
part in the composition of Essiac tea in Canada [1]. Traditional uses of its extracts
were also confirmed in previous study [2]. The constituents of the plant may account
for its cytotoxicity. In the present study, we searched the cytotoxicities of the
isolated compounds RAN-2, RAN-6, RAB-4, RAT-1, RAA-2, RAA-3, RAA-4 from the roots
of R. acetosella. The compounds were gained by using various chromatography methods as Sephadex column
chromatography (SPH), normal phase silica gel column chromatography (SK), reverse
phase column chromatography including vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) or medium
pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) and determined by NMR, IR, mass spectras and
optical rotations measurements. They were elucidated as (E)-piceid, musizin-/nepodin-8-O-β-glucopyranosid, rumejaposide G/H diastereomeric mixture, catechin/flavan-3-ol,
emodin, emodin-8-O-β-D-glucosid and the mixture of chrysophanol-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside and physcion-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, respectively. Initially we investigated their cytotoxicity with
preliminary studies. Therefore we conducted Resazurin reduction assay on CCRF-CEM
and CEM/ADR5000 leukemia cells at 10 µg/ml. None showed notable cytotoxicity to deserve
going further researches on.
This study was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
(TÜBITAK) 2214-A scholarship.
[1] Leonard SS, Keil D, Mehlman T, Proper S, Shi, XL, Harris GK. J Ethnopharmacol
2006; 103: 288 – 296
[2] Wegiera M, Smolarz HD, Bogucka-Kocka A. Acta Pol Pharm 2012; 69: 487 – 499