Comparative Study of the Efficacy of Different Artemisia Cina Extracts and their Nanoparticulated Forms against A549 Lung Cancer Cell Line

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the possible antiproliferative effects of the plant extracts of Artemisia cina on lung cancer, and whether the nanoencapsulation of the plant extracts in the form of nanoemulsion would potentiate their therapeutic efficacy. Soxhlet extraction of the freshly collected shade-dried plant using n-hexane and methanol was performed, and the two extracts were loaded within nanoemulsion using the water dilution method. The nanoemulsion was characterized for its particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity, physicochemical stability under refrigeration conditions, and was morphologically visualized using transmission electron microscopy. The antiproliferative activity of the extracts and their nanoforms was tested in A549 lung cancer cell lines using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results revealed the successful preparation of the plant extract-loaded nanoemulsions with suitable particle size from 15-16 nm, a homogenous dispersion with polydispersity index (PDI) ranging from 0.23-0.31, and neutral surface charge. The nanoemulsions displayed insignificant changes in their physicochemical properties after storage for 3 months, and their spherical morphology was confirmed using transmission electron microscopy. Both n-hexane and methanol extracts di splayed antiproliferative activity against A549 cells, with IC50 values of 35.96 ± 1.7 and 41.6 ± 2.8 μg/ml, respectively. On the other hand, their respective nanoparticulated forms displayed superior antiproliferative activity, with IC50 values of 12.59 ± 0.7 and 5.6 ± 0.4 μg/ml, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that nanoencapsulation of plant extracts would significantly potentiate their antiproliferative activity, which paves the way towards a more effective anticancer therapy.