Purpose: To determine the phenolic composition and antiproliferative activity of 16 different extracts
(hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and water) obtained from
Bellis perennis
,
Convolvulus galaticus
,
Trifolium pannonicum
and
Lysimachia vulgaris
on human breast cancer (MCF-7) and human
hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2/C3A) cell lines.
Methods: The aerial parts of the plants were successively extracted with hexane, dichloromethane,
methanol and water using a
Soxhlet apparatus. The phenolic content of the plants were determined by
plants by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) while their antiproliferative activity was
evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide, a yellow tetrazole (MTT)
assay.
Results: Among the tested extracts, the methanol extract of
B. perennis showed the best antiproliferative
activity against MCF-7 cell line with IC
50 (inhibiting 50 % of cell growth) value of 71.6 μg/mL.
Furthermore, the dichloromethane extract of
C. galaticus showed the best anti-proliferative activity
against HepG2/C3A cell line with IC
50 of 57.3 μg/mL. The HPLC data for the plant extracts showed the
presence of the following phenolic compounds: gallic acid monohydrate, caffeic acid, rutin hydrate,
luteolin-7-O-β-D glucoside, kaempferol, myricetin, quercetin, coumarin and apigenin.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that there is some justification for the use of
B. perennis
and
C. galaticus as traditional anticancer medicinal herbs.
