Acer plants(maples) have been traditionally used to treat a wide range of diseases and especially phenolic-enriched extracts of maple sap and syrup, that is obtained by concentrating it, have been reported to show anticancer effects.
Ginnalin A, one of the major phenolic compounds in several maple beverages, is a crystalline tannin (C20H20O13), which was first isolated from Acer ginnala Maxim.
While there is a growing interest in the utilization of phytomedicines and botanical extracts for cancer prevention and treatment worldwide, it has been reported that ginnalin A exhibits the effective antiproliferative activity against various human cancer cell lines of colon, breast, liver and prostate.
By using HPLC we determined that ginnalin A levels in leaves, twigs and barks of A. ginnala are 219 mg/g, 143 mg/g, 110 mg/g dry weight, respectively. Furthermore, we elucidated the antiproliferative effects of ginnalin A isolated from A. ginnala against human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y and mouse neuroblastoma cell line N18TG2 for the first time. IC50 values of ginnalin A against neuroblastoma cell lines were in the range of 70~150 µg/mL for 24~48h.
Our study suggests that maple plants may have broader anticancer effects than we expect and leaves, twigs and barks of maple, which are abundant residues and predominantly converted into energy in the forestry, can also be used as the valuable sources of anticancer compounds.
This result was published in “Medicinal Plants - International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries” (Vol. 13 (1), March 2021, 66-71) under the title of “Antiproliferative activity of ginnalin A isolated from Acer ginnala Maxim. against human and mouse neuroblastoma cell line”(http://dx.doi.org/10.5958/0975-6892.2021.00008.3).
