Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, antimicrobial, anticancer and antioxidant activities of n-hexane and methylene chloride extracts of Senna italica

Abstract

The current study was aimed to investigate the antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant activities of the nhexane and methylene chloride extracts from Senna italica as well as the characterization of their chemical constituents via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis (GC-MS). The results revealed that the nhexane extract showed weak antimicrobial activity with inhibition zones were ranged from 3.8 to 7mm, and the methylene chloride extract showed a potent antimicrobial activity with inhibition zones were ranged from 4.2 to 18mm compared to five standard antibiotics. Also, according to the criteria of the American National Cancer Institute (USNCI), the n-hexane showed weak anticancer activity with IC50 equal to 81.64.1, 73.03.90, 66.83.12, and 92.84.82 g/ml, while the methylene chloride exhibited a potent anticancer activity with IC50 of 16. 91.30, 17.41.36, 18.31.59, and 14.21.18g/ml, 4.80.21, 8.30.35, and 5.40.20, all respectively for HePG-2, Hela, PC3, and MCF-7 tumor cell lines. The activity against ABTS radical was recorded with the methylene chloride (% inhibition= 86.3%), compared to ascorbic acid with 89.2%. Moreover, GC-MS analysis revealed that the major constituents of the n-hexane were n-hexadecanoic acid (30%), (Z,Z,Z)9,12,15-octadecadienoic acid (21%), vitamin E (7.32%), and for methylene chloride were 3-methyl-4-oxopentanoic acid (16.36%), (E)-stilbene (11.86%), and 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (10.70%).