Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of Antidesma thwaitesianum Mull Arg (Euphorbiaceae) fruit and fruit waste extracts

Pintusorn Hansakul^1,3, Bhanuz Dechayont², Pathompong Phuaklee², Onmanee Prajuabjinda², Thana Juckmeta², Arunporn Itharat^2,3

¹Department of Preclinical Science; ²Department of Applied Thai Traditional; ³Center of Excellence in Applied Thai Traditional Medicine Research, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Thailand.

For correspondence:- Arunporn Itharat Email: iarunporn@yahoo.com Tel:+6629269749

Received: 21 November 2014 Accepted: 6 March 2015 Published: 26 April 2015

Citation: Hansakul P, Dechayont B, Phuaklee P, Prajuabjinda O, Juckmeta T, Itharat A. Cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of Antidesma thwaitesianum Mull Arg (Euphorbiaceae) fruit and fruit waste extracts. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(4):627-634 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i4.10

© 2015 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of the fruit and fruit waste (residue and marc) extracts of Antidesma thwaitesianum Müll. Arg., known as mamao in Thai, using chemical and cell-based assays.

Methods: The cytotoxicity of mamao fruit and fruit waste extracts obtained by expression, maceration and decoction against a panel of six human cancer cell lines (COR-L23, A549, LS174T, PC-3, MCF7 and HeLa) was determined by sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. In addition, their antioxidant activities were measured by chemical methods: 2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging assay and ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and cell-based methods: nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) dye reduction assay and nitric oxide (NO) scavenging assay. The phenolic and flavonoid contents were assessed colorimetrically at 765 nm and 415 nm respectively.

Results: Among the test extracts, the ethanol extracts of fresh fruits (FME) and marc left after squeezing fresh fruits (MME) exhibited moderate cytotoxicity against human breast MCF7 cells while the extract obtained by decocting the residue left after maceration of dried fruits (RDW) was moderately cytotoxic to lung large cell carcinoma COR-L23 cells. In the chemical assays, the extract obtained by decocting the residue left after maceration of dried marc (RMW) displayed the strongest ABTS radical-scavenging and ferric-reducing activities among the extracts. In the cell-based assays, however, FME and DME exerted potent nitric oxide scavenging activity whereas the extract obtained by decocting the residue left after maceration of fresh fruits (RFW) showed moderate superoxide radical-scavenging activity relative to the test extracts. The ABTS radical-scavenging and ferric-reducing activities of these extracts strongly correlate with their phenolic and flavonoid contents, indicating their specific contributions to such activities.

Conclusion: The ethanol extracts of fresh and dried mamao fruits exhibit both cytotoxic and cellular antioxidant activities, and thus possess great potentials for application in the development of effective dietary supplements to prevent oxidative stress-induced diseases.

Keywords: Antidesma thwaitesianum Müll. Arg., Cytotoxicity, Lung cell carcinoma, Antioxidant activity, Cellular assays