Investigation of chemical constituents and cytotoxic activity of the lichen Usnea undulata

Abstract

Lichens are a promising source of good anticancer agents. However the study on their bioactivities remains limited, especially in Vietnam. In this study, three extracts of lichen Usnea undulata Stirt. including tt-hexane, acetone and methanol were investigated for their cytotoxic activity on two human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, NC1-H460) and normal fibroblasts by sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. The results showed that the n-hexane extract exhibited the highest inhibition activity with IC₅₀ 5.26±0.13 µg/mL for MCF-7 and 6.83±0.64 µg/mL for NC1-H460, followed by acetone extract with IC₅₀ 66.4411.37 µg/mL and 92.1411.49 µg/mL, respectively.