Abstract:
In recent years, the medicinal properties of plant-derived products have come under extensive
investigation, and plants with antioxidant properties are considered as potential therapeutic
tools against cancer and other diseases. This study investigates the antioxidant activity of
Tragopogon porrifolius methanolic extract, both in vitro and in vivo; as well as assessing its effects
on CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. It also explores the antiproliferative activity of this
extract against breast (MDA) and colorectal (CaCo-2) adenocarcinoma cell lines. Total
phenolic and flavonoid contents were calculated using the Folin-Ciocalteu and the aluminum
chloride colorimetric methods and found to be 36.96 ± 1.39 mg GAE/g and 16.56 ± 0.42 mg
QE/g dry weight respectively. In vitro antioxidant activity, assessed using the FRAP assay,
was determined to be 659.57 ± 13.77 μmol Fe2+/g of extract. The IC50 using the DPPH assay
was calculated to be 15.18 μg/mL. In rats subjected to CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity, significant
in vivo antioxidant activity was detected with increased levels of catalase (CAT), superoxide
dismutase (SOD) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) liver antioxidant enzymes; the highest
dose of the extract (250 mg/kg) recorded a fold increase of 1.68 for SOD, 2.49 for GST and
3.2 for CAT compared to the DMSO vehicle group. The extract also showed substantial
hepatoprotective capacity by greatly reducing aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine
aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels with the 250 mg/kg dose
recording AST, ALT and LDH levels by 56.89%, 56.45% and 64.65% respectively. Finally,
measuring the effects of the extract on cell viability and proliferation by the Trypan Blue
exclusion method and the WST-1 cell proliferation assay both revealed a dose-dependent
inhibition of cell proliferation and increased cell death. In conclusion, the methanolic extract
of T. porrifolius showed evidence of antioxidant activity both in vitro and in vivo, as well as an
anticancer effect against MDA and Caco-2 cell lines. It also exhibited a hepatoprotective
potential against liver toxicity in rats.