Anticancer, anticholinesterase and antidiabetic activities of tunceli garlic (Allium tuncelianum): determining its phytochemical content by LC–MS/MS analysis

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the phytochemical content and pharmaceutical activity of methanol extracts of Allium tuncelianum (MAT). In this study, phytochemical contents of MAT were analyzed by liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) technique. Anticancer activity was determined on six different cell lines. By flow cytometric method, apoptotic activity was examined with annexin V in human prostate carcinoma (PC3) cell lines where the highest cytotoxic activity was observed. Real Time PCR was used to investigate the molecular genetic size of the effect. Anticholinesterase and antidiabetic activities were performed using enzyme inhibition technique. Enzyme inhibitory activity of MAT was determined using AChE, α-glucosidase enzymes. In these extracts, “μg Analyte/g MAT” as its unit; quinic acid (6458.45 ± 2.389), malic acid (4187.25 ± 0.544) and vanilic acid (349.4 ± 0.052) were found to be major components. The highest cytotoxic activity was found in PC3 cells (IC50: 105.72 µg/mL). Therefore, the mechanism of apoptotic effect in this cell line was also investigated. In a statistically meaningful proportion, MAT increased Caspase 3 and Caspase 9 gene expressions and suppressed IL6, IL8, MMP2 and MMP9 gene expressions. On the other hand, MAT demonstrated effective inhibition effects against AChE (IC50: 11.25 μg/mL), and α-glycosidase (IC50: 9.85 μg/mL) enzymes. As a result, it can be argued that Allium tuncelianum can be used as an alternative treatment for prostate cancer, diabetes and some neurodegenerative diseases.