Cytotoxic and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Medicinal Plants and Women’s Health Remedy Found in “Mahachotarat Scripture” of Thai Traditional Medicine.

“Mahachotarat” is a lesson for woman’s care from the Thai traditional medicine book, composed of both medicinal plants and herbal remedies that can treat both pain and cervical cancer. Medicinal plants and herbal remedies, which have often been used in the treatment of pain and cancer, were selected to investigate for biological activity related to woman’s health. They were Boesenbergia rotunda Linn, Piper nigrum Linn, Zingiber cassumunar Roxb, Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Zingiber zerumbet (L) Smith, Dioscorea birmanica Prain & Burkill including its ingredient; Prosapogenin A of dioscin and Leard-ngam remedy.

The objective was to investigate cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activities of all sample plants.

Medicinal plants and Leard-ngam remedy were extracted similarly to that practiced by Thai traditional practitioners (ethanol and water extraction). Bioassay guide fractionation was used for isolating pure compound. The structure elucidation of pure compound was proven by spectrophotometry technique. These extracts were tested for their cytotoxic activity against Hela cells, cervical cancer cells, by sulforhodamine B assay, inhibition of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells.

This study showed that P. nigrum, Z. officinale, B. rotunda and Z. cassumunar showed potent inhibitory activity on nitric oxide and PGE2 production. The 95% ethanolic extract of Z. zerumbet had the highest cytotoxic activity on Hela cells with IC50 value of 4.42±0.20 μg/ml. Diosgenin-3-O-α-L-rhamnosyl (1→2)-β-D-glucopyranoside or Prosapogenin A of dioscin, which was purified from the 95% ethanolic extract of D. birmanica, showed strong cytotoxic activity on Hela cells with IC50 value of 6.07±0.02 μg/ml.

Thai medicinal plants and LG remedies which have often been used in the treatment of pain and cancer by Thai traditional practitioners, showed high anti-inflammatory properties on both pathways which represent chronic and acute inflammation. Interestingly, some medicinal plants were used daily in Thai food. In addition, Z. zerumbet and D. birmanica, which has often been used in the treatment of cancer, also showed high cytotoxic activity against cervical cancer cells.