Antioxidant, Anticancer and Anticholinesterase Activities of Flower, Fruit and Seed Extracts of Hypericum amblysepalum HOCHST

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Cancer is an unnatural type of tissue growth in which the cells exhibit unrestrained division,leading to a progressive increase in the number of dividing cells. It is now the second largest cause of death in theworld. The present study concerned antioxidant, anticancer and anticholinesterase activities and protocatechuic,catechin, caffeic acid, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid and o-coumaric concentrations in methanol extracts offlowers, fruits and seeds of Hypericum amblysepalum. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: Antioxidant properties includingfree radical scavenging activity and reducing power, and amounts of total phenolic compounds were evaluatedusing different tests. Protocatechuic, catechin, caffeic acid, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid and o-coumaricconcentrations in extracts were determined by HPLC. Cytotoxic effects were determined using the MTT test withhuman cervix cancer (HeLa) and rat kidney epithelium cell (NRK-52E) lines. Acetyl and butyrylcholinesteraseinhibitory activities were measured by by Ellman method. <br/><b>Results</b>: Total phenolic content of H. amblysepalumseeds was found to be higher than in fruit and flower extracts. DPPH free radical scavenging activity of theobtained extracts gave satisfactory results versus butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene ascontrols. Reducing power activity was linearly proportional to the studied concentration range: 10-500 μg/mL LC50 values for H. amblysepalum seeds were 11.7 and 2.86 respectively for HeLa and NRK-52E cell lines.Butyryl-cholinesterase inhibitory activity was 76.9 ± 0.41 for seed extract and higher than with other extracts.<br/><b>Conclusions</b>: The present results suggested that H. amblysepalum could be a potential candidate anti-cancerdrug for the treatment of human cervical cancer, and good source of natural antioxidants.