Antioxidant, anticancer, and cytotoxic effects of Thai traditional herbal preparations consumed as rejuvenators

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate the antioxidant, anticancer, and cytotoxic properties of 18 ethanol extracts of the plant-based preparations described in Thai Pharmaceutical Textbook and locally used as rejuvenators. ‘Tri-Su-Ra-Phon’, ‘Tri-Sa-Mo’, ‘Jatu-Pha-La-Ti-Ga’, and ‘Nava-Kot’ extracts had much higher antioxidant activities than those of standard trolox and ascorbic acid. The percentage inhibitions, using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH) and 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS)methods, of these extracts were found to be approximately 73.33 ± 6.01–93.50 ± 0.30% and 73.71 ± 2.77–101.86 ± 0.54%, respectively. ‘Tri-Su-Ra-Phon’ extract presented the highest phenolic and flavonoid contents of 1373.40 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of extract and 4290.60 mg catechin equivalent/g of extract, respectively. Moreover, ‘Jatu-Pha-La-Ti-Ga’, ‘Tri-Sa-Mo’, and ‘Tri-Su-Ra-Phon’ exhibited significant anticancer activity against human breast cancer cell lines with selectivity indexes of 3–12. Based on this information, it could be concluded that ‘Jatu-Pha-La-Ti-Ga’, ‘Tri-Sa-Mo’, and ‘Tri-Su-Ra-Phon’ have great potential to be used in the development of functional beverages that are currently in demand for health benefits.