The cytotoxic activities of the n-hexane, chloroform and aqueous methanolic fractions prepared from the methanolic extract of the leaves of 23 Salvia taxa were studied for their cell growth-inhibitory activity against human cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa), skin carcinoma (A431) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) cells using the MTT assay. The n-hexane fractions of six Salvia taxa (S. hispanica, S. nemorosa, S. nemorosa l. albiflora, S. pratensis, S. recognita and S. ringens) and the chloroform fraction of S. officinalis l. albiflora produced over 50% growth inhibition of the skin carcinoma cell line. None of the tested extracts showed substantial (above 50%) antiproliferative effects against HeLa and MCF7 cells. S. ringens was the most powerful among the studied Salvia species with a 61.8% cell growth inhibitory activity on A431 cells. In the case of S. ringens, other plant parts were also tested for antiproliferative effect, and the highest activities were recorded for the root extract. This was subjected to bioactivity-guided fractionation, which yielded four abietane diterpenes (royleanone, horminone, 7-O-methyl-horminone and 7-acetyl-horminone), one triterpene (erythrodiol-3-acetate) and β-sitosterol. Horminone, 7-acetyl-horminone and erythrodiol-3-acetate displayed marked concentration-dependent antiproliferative effects, while royleanone and 7-O-methyl-horminone produced weaker activities.
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