Cytotoxicity and anti-inflammatory effects of the extract, fractions and alkaloids from (Rubiaceae).

species has been used in folk medicine in the treatment of some diseases including cancer and inflammatory disorders. This work aimed to evaluate the antiproliferative and topical anti-inflammatory activities of the methanolic extract, fractions and two major alkaloids isolated from . Methanolic extract, non-alkaloidal and alkaloidal fractions exhibited strong growth inhibition for ovarian cell lines (OVCAR-3, GI = 3.8 at 16.3 µg mL) and the vincosamide alkaloid revealed selective effect on the growth of glioma cell lines (U251, GI = 33.0 µg mL) compared with doxorubicin (DOX, GI = 0.42 and 0.025 µg mL, respectively) anticancer drug. Methanolic extract, fractions and strictosidinic acid showed significant inhibitory effect with 62.7% at 77.5% (p < 0.05) to ear edema induced by croton oil and 81% at 100% (p < 0.05) to myeloperoxidase assay compared with indomethacin (positive control) 68.4% and 91.3% (p < 0.05), respectively.