Anticancer and antioxidant effects of tragopogon porrifolius extract. (c2011)

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.