Purpose: To investigate the anti-proliferative and antioxidant potentials of four different solvent extracts
of
Phoenix paludosa
Roxb leaves.
Methods: Four different solvent (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol) leaf extracts of the
plant were tested for cytotoxicity against four cancer cells, viz, MCF-7 (oestrogen positive breast cancer
cell line), MDA-MB-231 (triple negative breast cancer cell line), SK-BR-3 (breast adenocarcinoma) and
ACHN (renal adenocarcinoma) as well as two normal cell lines, namely, HEK-293 (embryonic kidney
cells) and MCF-10A (normal mammary epithelial cells)]. 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,
29-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) free radical scavenging assays were used to
evaluate the antioxidant activity of the crude extracts.
Results: The methanol extract showed the highest antioxidant activity (DPPH, half maximal inhibitory
concentration (IC
50) = 30.17 ± 6.21 μg/mL) and (ABTS, IC
50 = 27.91 ± 3.21 μg/mL). Of the four extracts,
methanol extract showed the strongest significant (p < 0.05) cytotoxicity to all four cancer cell lines at 24
and 48 h of incubation followed by the chloroform extract (IC
50 of methanol extract (24 and 48 h): 36.71
± 8.72 and 33.19 ± 5.53 μg/mL (MCF-7), 159.7 ± 32.09 and 141.9 ± 26.2 μg/mL (MDA-MB-231), 103.3
± 18.9 and 75.39 ± 19.39 μg/mL (SKBR-3), 57.21 ± 3.72 and 43.16 ± 10.25 μg/mL (MCF-10A), 37.48 ±
5.75 and 26.99 ± 1.85 (ACHN) and 66.83 ± 14.26 and 60.34 ± 10.66 μg/mL (HEK-293)). Furthermore,
the methanol extract was least cytotoxic to normal cell lines.
Conclusion: The results obtained indicate that the methanol leaf extract of
P. paludosa exhibit potent
antioxidant and cytotoxic activities and has the potential of being developed into an anti-cancer agent.
