Evaluation of Antioxidant Properties and Cytotoxicity of Common Medicinal Plant Extracts using Human Breast Cancer Cell-line (MCF-7)

Abstract

Worldwide medicinal plants are accepted and approved for their therapeutic usage. The present study was carried out to screen medicinal plants for their antioxidant and cytotoxic activitiy against MCF-7 cells. The methanolic leaf extracts of four plants viz., Withania somnifera (WS), Moringa oleifera (MO), Stevia rebaudiana (SR), Nicotiana tabacum (NT) were studied. Antioxidant activities were determined by 2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assays. Cytotoxic activities were determined by 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) Assays. The antioxidant activity of the extracts by DPPH assay was in the following order NT > MO > SR >WS. Similarly, the antioxidant activity by ABTS assay was MO > NT > WS >SR. All the leaf extracts displayed cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cells in in vitro as well as in silico studies. Therefore, we conclude that the methanolic leaf extracts of the studied plants can be used as a source for exogenous antioxidants.