Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2026

Anticancer Metal Complexes: Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Evaluation by the MTT Assay
Published on: November 10, 2013
Conversions at C-30 of glycyrrhetinic acid and their impact on antitumor activity
René Csuk1, Stefan Schwarz, Bianka Siewert
1Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Bereich Organische Chemie, Halle (Saale), Germany. rene.csuk@chemie.uni-halle.de
Abstract:
The extracts of the roots of licorice have been used in traditional and folk medicine to treat a broad variety of maladies. The main ingredient of these extracts is glycyrrhicinic acid. Its aglycon, glycyrrhetinic acid, has many biological activities, among them a pronounced cytotoxicity against tumor cells. In this study we varied glycyrrhetinic acid at position C-30 to get "simple" derivatives, for example esters, amides and a nitrile. The influence of these changes on the cytotoxic activity is noteworthy and was determined by a colorimetric sulphorhodamine B test using 7 human tumor cell lines and mouse embryonic fibroblasts (NIH3T3) for comparison. A Trypan blue test as well as an acridine orange/ethidium bromide test was used to discover the ability of the compounds to induce apoptosis.
Related Concept Videos
Pharmacogenetics of Phase II Enzymes: N-acetyltransferase, Thiopurine S-methyltransferase, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase
Phase II Reactions: Glucuronidation
Pharmacogenetics of Drug Targets: β₂-Adrenergic Receptors, Apo E, Thymidylate Synthase
Oral Hypoglycemic Agents: α-Glucosidase Inhibitors
Acarbose and miglitol are typically...
Drug Metabolism: Phase II Reactions

