Antioxidant and antiproliferative activity of methanolic extract of Grewia tiliaefolia (Vahl) bark in different cancer cell lines

Abstract

The importance of botanical, chemical, pharmacological evaluation of plant-derived agents used in the treatment of human ailments has been increasingly recognized in the last decades.  Plants continue to be an important source of new drugs even today.  The present study was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant and tumour cell suppression potential of methanolic extract of Grewia tiliaefolia bark in the in vitro model system.  The different radical systems comprising of superoxide radical (O2^.-), hydroxyl radical (OH^.) and nitric oxide radical (NO^.) systems were studied against different concentration of G. tiliaefolia extract.  The percentage of radical inhibition and IC50 (concentration of extract required to inhibit 50% radicals) were calculated.  The study showed that the methanolic extract was found to have potential antioxidant activity in the in vitro model system.  The tumour cell suppression or antiproliferative activity was demonstrated in three different cancer cell lines i.e., MCF7 (breast cancer cell line), HepG2 (hepatocancer cell line) and A549 (lung cancer cell line).  The Sulphorhodamine B (SRB assay) method was adopted for evaluating the tumour cell suppression activity.  The Growth inhibition of 50% (GI50), Total Growth Inhibition (TGI) and lethal concentration 50% (LC50) of G. tiliaefolia extract were evaluated against all the three cancer cell lines.  The study proved that the methanolic extract was found to have potential tumour cell suppression activity in the selected in vitro cell culture system.  The efficacy of the extract was highest against MCF7 cells and then followed by HepG2 cells and A549 cells.  The further study has to be focused for understanding the molecular level mode of action of test extract.