RESUMO
AIM To optimize the supercritical CO2 extraction of sauchinone and to evaluate the in vitro antitumor activity of Saururi Herba supercritical extract.METHODS With extraction pressure,extraction temperature,extraction time,entrainer (ethanol) concentration and entrainer amount as influencing factors,together with extraction rate of sauchinone as an evaluation index,orthogonal test was used for optimizing the extraction.Then MTT was applied to determining the extract's inhibitory effect on human multidrug-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (7721/Adm).RESULTS The optimal conditions were determined to be 30 MPa for extraction pressure,50 ℃ for extraction temperature,2 h for extraction time,95％ for ethanol concentration,and one time for ethanol amount,the average extraction rate of sauchinone was 0.173％.The obtained extract significantly inhibited the proliferation of 7721/Adm cells (IC50 =50.08 μg/mL),demonstrating a stronger activity than that of ethanol extract (ICs0 =150.59 μg/mL).CONCLUSION This stable and feasible method is appropriate for sauchinone extraction,and the supercritical CO2 extract from Saururi Herba shows a strong in vitro antitumor activity.