Investigating the cytotoxic effect of some medicinal plants from northern parts of Iran

Document Type : Original paper

Authors

1 Traditional Medicine & Materia Medica Research Center (TMRC), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Traditional Medicine & Materia Medica Research Center (TMRC), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

3 Traditional Medicine & Materia Medica Research Center (TMRC), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Department of Traditional Pharmacy, School of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Iran owns a rich and prestigious heritage of medicinal herbs but the majority of these plants have not yet undergone chemical, pharmacological and toxicological studies. In the present study some species form northern parts of Iran were evaluated for cytotoxicity. Methods: Sixteen medicinal plants were extracted with methanol and screened for their cytotoxic activities. The inhibition of cell growth for these extracts was evaluated against MCF-7, WEHI-164, HepG-2 and MDBK cell lines. Their 50% inhibitions of growth (IC50) were determined by MTT assay. Moreover, cytotoxic evaluation of different fractions of the most potent species was performed. Results:Among examined samples, the IC50 values of methanol extract of Centaurea bruguierana (DC.) Hand.-Mzt. on mentioned cell lines were found 47.30-87.40 µg/mL. In addition, the chloroform fraction of the species was cytotoxic with IC50 values 17.00-23.03 µg/mL. Conclusion: It was concluded that the chloroform fraction of C. bruguierana was the best candidate for identification and isolation of active principles with cytotoxic effects. These results recommend further studies about this species.

Keywords


 
[1]  Newman D, Cragg G. Natural products as sources of new drugs over the last 25 years.               J Nat Prod. 2007; 70: 461-477.
[2]  Rauh R, Kahl S, Boechzelt H, Bauer R, Kaina B, Efferth T. Molecular biology of cantharidin  in cancer cells. Chin Med J. 2007; 2(8): 1-9.
[3]  Rates S. Plants as source of drugs. Toxicon.  2001; 39: 603-613.
[4]  Graham J, Quinn M, Fabricant D, Farnsworth N. Plants used against cancer - an extension of the work of Jonathan Hartwell. J Ethnopharmacol. 2000; 73: 347-377.
[5]  Kianbakht S, Jahaniani F. Evaluation of antibacterial activity of Tribulus terrestris L. growing in Iran. Iran J Pharmacol Ther. 2003; 2(1): 22-24.
[6]  Sadeghi-aliabadi H, Emami A, Saeidi M, Jafarin A. Cytotoxic effects of the extracts of the Iranian Taxus baccata and Cupressus horizentalis on cancer cells. Iran J Pharm Res. 2003; 2(3): 107-110.
[7]  Amin GR, Sharif abadi A, Surmaghi M, Yasa N, Aynechi Y, Emami M, Shidfar MR, Amin M, Moghadami M, Kordbacheh P, Zeini F. Screening of Iranian plants for anti fungnal activity: part 1. Daru J Pharm Sci. 2002: 38-48.
[8]  Amin GR, Sharif abadi A, Surmaghi M, Yasa N, Aynechi Y, Emami M, Shidfar MR, Amin M, Moghadami M, Kordbacheh P, Zeini F. Screening of Iranian plants for anti fungnal activity: part 2. Daru J Pharm Sci. 2002; 10(2): 78-89.
[9]  Esmaeili S, Hamzeloo-Moghadam M, Ghaffari S, Mosaddegh M. Cytotoxic activity screening of some medicinal plants from south of Iran. Res J Pharmacogn. 2014; 1: 19-25.
[10]  Mosmann T. Rapid colorimetric assay for cellular growth and survival: Application to proliferation and cytotoxicity assay. J Immunol Methods. 1983; 65: 55-63.
[11]  Khodarahmi GA, Ghasemi N, Hassanzadeh F, Safaie M. Cytotoxic effects of different extracts and latex of Ficus carica L. on HeLa cell line. Iran J Pharm Res. 2011; 10(2): 273-277.
[12]  Abdolmohammadi MH, Fouladdel S, Shafiee A, Ghaffari SM, Azizi E. Antiproliferative and apoptotic effect of Astrodaucus orientalis (L.) Drude on T-47D human breast cancer cell line: Potential mechanisms of action. Afr J Biotechnol. 2009; 8(17): 4265-4276.
[13]  Dehghan Noudeh G, Sharififar F, Dehghan Noodeh A, Hassan M, Ahmadi Afzadi M, Behravan E,Aref  M, Sakhtianchi R. Antitumor and antibacterial activity of four fractions from Heracleum persicum Desf and Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume.  J Med Plants Res. 2010; 4(21): 2176-2180.
[14]  Mozaffarian V. A dictionary of Iranian plants names. Tehran: Farhang Moaser Publishers, 2007.
[15]  Soltani A. Encyclopedia of traditional medicine, medicinal plants. Tehran: Arjmand,  2005.
[16]  Safa O, Soltanipoor M, Rastegar S, Kazemi M, Nourbakhsh Dehkordi K, Ghannadi A. An ethnobotanical survey on Hormozgan province, Iran. Avicenna J Phytomed. 2013; 3(1): 64-81.
[17]  Tešević V, Slobodan M, Vlatka V, Pedja J. Quantitative analysis of sesquiterpenes lactone cnicin in seven Centaurea speices wild- growing in Serbia and Montenegro using H- NMR spectroscopy. J Serb Chem Soc. 2007; 72(12): 1275-1280.
[18]  Rajabi A, Khanavi M, Khademi R, Hadjiakhoondi A, Ostad S. Investigation on Cytotoxic activity of Centaurea bruguierana ssp. belangerana.  57th International congress and annual meeting of the society for medicinal plant and natural product research. 2009 Aug 16-20; Geneva, Switzerland.