Screening of Cytotoxic Activity in Hexanic and Ethanolic Extracts of Rollinia laurifolia

SUMMARY. The hexanic and ethanolic extracts obtained from Rollinia laurifolia, collected in Minas Gerais State/Brazil, were screened by the brine shrimp lethality and cytotoxic assays on different cell lines, in order to identify potential sources for novel antitumoral compounds. Fifty percent of the ethanolic de-rived fractions (E) showed significant cytotoxic activity (IC50 < 10–1μg/mL), not related to tannins or saponins, i. e., IC50 E13 on C6 = 1.54 x 10–2 μg/mL, IC50 E29 on L929 and C6 = 6.43 x 10–2 μg/mL and 3.57 x 10–2 μg/mL, respectively. RP-HPLC analysis led to the purification and identification of two known aceto-genins, gonionenin and annonin-I, detected for the first time in Rollinia sp, and a new acetogenin, named laurifolin