Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: Pouzolzia indica Gaudich. var. angustifolia Wedd., a Thai medicinal plant in the Urticaceae family, has long been used as one of the components in Thai herbal remedies for treating various malignant diseases. The antiproliferative activity of extracts obtained from this plant on acute promyelocytic cell lines, NB4 and HT93A, was investigated. It was found that a methanol fraction of the stems and leaves of this plant inhibited cell proliferation of NB4 and HT93A cells with IC50 values of 28.5 ± 0.1 and 49.8 ± 0.7 µg/ml respectively. NB4 cells (3.2 % to 22.22 %) treated with 75 µg/ml of this fraction for 24 hr underwent apoptosis compared with untreated cells whereas HT93A cells (3.02 % to 51.34 %) treated with 150 µg/ml of this fraction underwent apoptosis compared with the control cells. These results suggest that elucidation of the active chemicals in this herb will be valuable.

Key words: antiproliferative activity, Pouzolzia indica, apoptosis, NB4 promyelocytic cells, HT93A promyelocytic cells