Euphorbia resinifera latex has been extensively utilized in traditional medicine due to its range of bioactivities. Chromatographic separations on silica gel of ethanol extract of
E. resinifera latex led to the development of a new procedure for isolating resiniferatoxin (
4) via dried
E. resinifera latex and the identification of nine compounds. Among these, catechol (
7), protocatechuic acid (
8) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (
9), known phenolic compounds, were identified for the first time in
E. resinifera latex. Herein we investigated the effects of major compounds of the latex of
E. resinifera on the yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, on the growth of
Aspergillus carbonarius, a widespread fungal contaminant, and on the breast cancer cell line MCF7 as well as on MCF10A normal breast cells. 12-deoxyphorbol-13-isobutyrate-20-acetate (
2) had an inhibiting effect on the growth of
A. carbonarius, and 7-
p-metoxyphenylacetate-3,8,12-triacetate ingol (
3) showed a negative effect on yeast cell growth and also a cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cell line MCF7, but not on MCF10A cells. Deglucosyl euphorbioside A (
5) and euphorbioside A (
6) showed a discoloration effect that was possibly related to mitochondrial functionality in yeast, and also cytotoxicity only on the cancer cell line that was tested. Interestingly, treatment of MCF7 cells with 7-
p-metoxyphenylacetate-3,8,12-triacetate ingol (
3) and deglucosyl euphorbioside A (
5) not only led to a specific cytotoxic effect but also to the increase in the level of intracellular ROS.
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