Cytotoxic Activity of Thirteen Endemic and Rare Plants from Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province in Iran

Abstract

Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province is one of the most important endemism states of the flora of Iran with a considerable plant species diversity. In the present study, the cytotoxic activity of 13 plant species grown in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari have been evaluated on prostate (PC-3), breast (MCF-7), liver (HepG2), ovary (CHO), and melanoma (B16-F10) cancer cell lines. The cytotoxicity and apoptotic activity of methanol extracts was evaluated using resazurin reagent and flow cytometry of PI stained cells, respectively. Methanol extracts of Dionysia sawyeri, Stachys obtusicrena and Cicer oxyodon on CHO cell line (p <0.05) and D. sawyer and Linum album on B16/F10 cell line (p <0.05) showed significant cytotoxic effects and increased apoptosis. It is generally suggested that the plant extracts with low IC₅₀ values are likely to be used as anti-cancer compounds in reducing cancer progression in scientific studies.

Keywords: Achillea; Apoptosis; Cytotoxic; Nepeta; Phlomis; Scutellaria; Tanacetum.

Figure 1

Flow cytometry histograms of apoptosis assays by PI method of CHO and B16/F10 cells: (A) CHO cells were incubated with 50, 100 µM of Methanol extracts of Dionysia sawyer, Stachys obtusicrena and Cicer oxyodon and (B) B16/F10 cells were incubated with 50, 100 µM of D. sawyer and Linnum album for 48 h. All of the components induced cell death through apoptosis. All experiments were done in triplicate