Evaluation of cytotoxicity of Trillium govanianum (Melanthiaceae)

Trillium govanianum Wall. (Melanthiaceae alt. Trilliaceae), commonly known as “nagchhatry” or “teen patra”, is a native species of the Himalayas. It is used in various traditional medicines containing both steroids and sex hormones. In folk medicine, the rhizomes of T. govanianum are used to treat boils, dysentery, inflammation, menstrual and sexual disorders, as an antiseptic and in wound-healing. With the only exception of the recent report on the isolation of a new steroidal saponin, govanoside A, together with three known steroidal compounds with antifungal property from this plant, there has been no systematic pharmacological and phytochemical work performed on T. govanianum. This paper reports, for the first time, on the cytotoxicity of the methanol (MeOH) extract of the roots of T. govanianum and its solid-phase extraction (SPE) fractions against four human carcinoma cell lines: breast (MCF7), liver (HEPG2), lung (A549) and urinary bladder (EJ138), using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) cytotoxicity assay, and LC-ESI-QTOF-MS analysis of the SPE fractions. The MeOH extract and all SPE fractions exhibited considerable levels of cytotoxicity against all cell lines with the IC50 values ranging between 5-16 μg/mL. Like other Trillium species, presence o