The cytotoxic
effects of four alkaloids, berberine, canadine, anonaine, and antioquine were evaluated using three different cell cultures, a primary culture (rat hepatocytes) and two cell lines (HepG2 and HeLa). Our results indicate that berberine, anonaine, and antioquine possess a significant the cytotoxic
effect. In contrast, canadine does not possess cytotoxic
effect at concentrations tested here. A molecular modeling study indicates that the quaternary nitrogen, the aromatic polycyclic and planar structure of berberine could be the pharmacophoric patron to produce the cytotoxic
effect. In parallel our results demonstrated that canadine possess a significant antioxidant activity.
Stereoelectronic aspects of this alkaloid were found to be closely related to those displayed by
-tocopherol and its water-soluble analogue trolox. The antioxidant activities of canadine, combined with its low-toxic
effect, indicated that the potential of this alkaloid as a novel class of antioxidant agent is very interesting and deserves further research.