THE DIFFERENTIAL CYTOTOXICITY OF CARDENOLIDES FROM THEVETIA-AHOUIA

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the cytotoxic organic extracts of the wood of Thevetia ahouia (Apocyanaceae) led to the isolation of three cardenolide glycosides, neriifolin, 3'-O-methylevomonoside and 2'-acetyl-neriifolin [1-3]. These agents exhibited a distinctive pattern of differential cytotoxicity in the National Cancer Institute's human disease-oriented 60-cell line tumour screening panel, which suggests that follow-up in vivo xenograft evaluations may be warranted. These patterns may be useful in future dereplication studies of extracts potentially containing this class of compound.