Anti-Cancer and Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Some Nigerian Food Plants in vitro

Abstract

This study was designed to screen different extracts of 15 commonly consumed Nigerian food plants for anti-cancer and free radical scavenging activities. Leaves, seeds or fruits of the plants were each successively extracted with n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol and water. The cytotoxic activity of each of the extracts was tested against human myeloid leukemia (HL-60), human hepatocellular carcinoma (SMMC-7721), human lung carcinoma (A-549), human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and colon cancer (SW480) cell lines using Cisplatin as standard. The free radical scavenging activities of the extracts against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) were also determined. The dichloromethane extract of Vernonia amygdalina leaves (VA-D) showed the strongest cytotoxic activity against all the cancer cell lines with IC50 range of 5.85-8.84 pg mL - 1 The dichloromethane extract of Gongronema latifolium leaves (GL-D) showed the highest activity against A-549 and MCF-7 with IC50 of 9.57 and 6.51 pg mL -l, respectively, while Piper guineense leaves (PG-D) exhibited the highest activity against HL-60 with IC50 of 3.62 pg mL - 1 The other extracts were inactive against the cancer cell lines. The ethanolic extract of Sesamum indicum leaves (81-E) and Mucuna pruriens seeds (MP-E) showed the highest free radical scavenging activity with SC50 of 6.8 and 7.3xl0-2 mg mL -l, respectively. Other extracts of some of the food plant samples showed varying free radical scavenging activities. The results from this study suggest that some of the food plants screened may possess anti -cancer and antioxidant properties.