Fitoterapia 75 (2004) 225–227 0367-326X/04/$ - see front matter  2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fitote.2003.12.017 Short report Cytotoxic activity of five compounds isolated from Colombian plants C.P. Cordero, S. Gomez-Gonzalez, C.J. Leon-Acosta, ´ ´ ´ S.J. Morantes-Medina, F.A. Aristizabal* Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Edificio 450, Ciudad Universitaria, Carrera 30-Calle 45, Bogota D.C., Colombia ´ Received 9 September 2003; accepted in revised form 12 December 2003 Abstract Cytotoxic effect of five known compounds, khellin, berberine, lupeol, scopolin, rapanone, obtained from Colombian plants, were determined against human tumor cell lines as an indicator of the potential anticancer activity of these compounds. Berberine and rapanone presented interesting cytotoxicity.  2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cytotoxicity; Khellin; Berberine; Lupeol; Scopolin; Rapanone Plants. Khellin (5, 8-dimethoxy-2-methyl-49,59-furo-6,7-chromone) was isolated in 1% yield from the seeds of mature fruits of Ammi visnaga (Apiaceae). The material was harvested at the municipality of Caqueza, Cundinamarca, Colombia and was classified by the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota w1x. ´ Berberine (5,6-dihydro-9,10-dimethoxybenzowgx-1,3-benzodioxolow5,6-ax quinoli- zinium) was extracted in 3.8% yield from the bark of Zanthoxylum monophyllum (Rutaceae) collected at the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, identified at the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, where a specimen is conserved with the voucher No. 100254 w2x. *Corresponding author. Fax: q3165060. E-mail address: faaristizabalg@unal.edu.co (F.A. Aristizabal).