Anti-proliferative, Cytotoxicity and Anti-oxidant Activity of Juglans regia Extract

Abstract

Objective: Juglans regia (walnuts), the royal species from Junglandaceae family, well-known for its valuable medicinal uses, their regular consumption may have beneficial effects against oxidative stress mediated diseases including cancer. The present study was aimed to explore the total phenolic content, anti-proliferative and anti-oxidant activity of Juglans regia leaves. Methods: The leaf powder was extracted using different solvents and subjected for phytochemical investigation. The total phenolic contents were determined by the Folin–Ciocalteu method. The extracts comprising a good amount of secondary metabolites especially polyphenols were used to evaluate their antioxidant activity using Fenton’s reagent reaction and DPPH scavenging assay, while cytotoxic and anti-proliferative activity against B16F10 mice melanoma and A375 human melanoma cell were screened using MTT Assay. Observation: Methanolic extract presented the highest total phenolic content (94.39 ± 5.63 mg of GAE/g of extract) as compared to aqueous extract (27.92 ± 1.40 mg of GAE/g of extract). Similarly, methanolic extract presented the highest antioxidant activity (EC50 of 0.250mg/ml) followed by water extract (EC50 of 0.325mg/ml) in Fenton’s reaction and 0.199 ± 0.023 and 2.991 ± 0.740, respectively in DPPH assay. The extracts showed concentration dependent growth inhibition activity (IC50 0.234 and 0.304mg/ml) against B16F10 mice melanoma and A375 human melanoma cell line (IC50 0.298 and 0.350mg/ml) respectively. The extracts proved least toxic when treated with normal lymphocytes. The results indicate that walnut leaves are an excellent source of antioxidant and anti-cancerous agents and may prove fruitful herbal remedy in near future. However, the extracts proved effective against mice melanoma and human melanoma cells. Despite, more study is required before coming to any conclusion.