Comparative antitumor and anti-proliferative activities of Hippophae rhamnoides L. leaves extracts

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the antitumor and anti-proliferative activities of methanol, aqueous, acetone, ethyl acetate, ethanol, chloroform and n-hexane extracts of Hippophae rhamnoides leaves. Methods: Antitumor activities were evaluated by using the antitumor potato disc assay by using inoculums (Agrobacterium tumefaciens) with three different concentrations of test samples (10, 100 and 1 000 mg/L). Anti-proliferative activity was evaluated by the given method of methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay. The concentrations of the extract ranging from 0.039 to 10 mg/mL were tested against HeLa cells. Results: Highest tumors inhibition activity (60.9% and 55.8%) was shown by methanol and ethanol extracts, with EC50 values of 424.41 and 434.61 mg/L respectively. At 10 mg/mL, The highest cell inhibition 75.61% was observed in methanol extract and the lowest 36.59% were calculated in n-hexane extract. The difference in tumor and cell inhibition (%) may be due to the different concentration of active compounds responsible for antitumor and anti-proliferative activities. All extracts have considerable level of tumor and cell inhibitiory effect in a dose dependent manner. Conclusions: Our finding showed that Hippophae rhamnoides leaves are a potent natural source of antitumor and antiproliferative agent.