Asarum sieboldii Miq. (Aristolochiaceae) is a perennial herbaceous plant and has been used as traditional medicine for treating diseases, cold, fever, phlegm, allergies, chronic gastritis, and acute toothaches. Also, it has various biological activities, such as antiallergic, antiinflammatory, antinociceptive, and antifungal. However, the anticancer effect of A. sieboldii have been rarely reported, except anticancer effect on lung cancer cell (A549) of water extracts of A. sieboldii . This study investigated the anticancer activity of methanol extracts of A. sieboldii (MeAS) and the underlying mechanism in human FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. MeAS inhibited FaDu cells grown dose-dependently without affecting normal cells (L929), as determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyl tetrazolium bromide and live and dead assay. In addition, concentration of MeAS without cytotoxicity (0.05 and 0.1 mg/mL) inhibited migration and colony formation. Moreover, MeAS treatment significantly induced apoptosis through the proteolytic cleavage of caspase-3, -7, -9, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, and downregulation of Bcl-2 and upregulation of Bax in FaDu cells, as determined by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis, 4`6-diamidino- 2-phenylindole stain, and western blotting. Altogether, these results suggest that MeAS exhibits strong anticancer effects by suppressing the growth of oral cancer cells and the migration and colony formation via caspase- and mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathways in human FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. Therefore, MeAS can serve as a natural chemotherapeutic for human oral cancer.

In view of the recently increased interest in developing plant-origin insecticides are an alternative to chemical insecticides. This study was undertaken to assess the larvicidal potential of the two (H52C1 and H5C) compounds from Asarum sieboldii Miq. against dengue vector Aedes aegypti. Among the two compounds, compound I (H52C1) was most active than the compound II (H5C) against third instar larvae of Ae. aegypti. The LC50 value of the compound I was 2.03 (95% CL, 1.51-2.76) and the compound II was 10.66 (95% CL, 9.23-12.42). These findings would be useful in promoting research aiming at the development of new agents for mosquito larval control based on bioactive chemical compounds from plant origin.