Structure and antitumor (LOVO) activity of Cortex moutan heteroglycan and Curcumin

The Box–Behnken design combined with response surface methodology was used to optimize the extraction of curcumin. The optimized results showed that the highest extraction yield of curcumin could arrive 1.12%. The suitability of the model equation for predicting the optimum response values was tested using the selected optimal conditions. The predicted extraction yield of heteroglycan was 1.13%, which was consistent with the practical extraction yield of heteroglycan of 1.17%. Cortex moutan heteroglycan (500 mg) was applied to a column (3.2 cm × 32 cm) of DEAE Sepharose CL-6B (Cl−) that was equilibrated with H2O. The two adsorbed fractions (Fraction I and Fraction II) were obtained as lyophilisate after dialysis The antitumor activities of the Cortex moutan heteroglycan and curcumin were evaluated in vitro. The results indicated that the Cortex moutan heteroglycan and curcumin could inhibit colorectal carcinoma (LOVO) cells growth and stimulate apoptosis. Moreover, antitumor activities of curcumin was stronger than that of Cortex moutan heteroglycan. This indicated that curcumin was useful for therapy of colorectal carcinoma.