Cytotoxic effects of hydroalcoholic extract of Juniperus sabina compared with hydroalcoholic extract of Taxus baccata and Cisplatin on normal and cancer cell lines

Abstract

Isolation and identification of some potent anti-tumor compounds from medicinal plants, has motivated researchers to screen different parts of plant species for anti-tumor effects. It has been reported that several conifers posse cytotoxic activities on some human tumor cell lines. Previous investigations revealed that different parts of some species of Iranian Juniperus sabina possess cytotoxic effects on some human cancer cell lines. The potent compound of the species of this plant is podophyllotoxin, but active ingredients of other species are lignan, silicicolin called desoxypodophyllotoxin. In this study cytotoxic effects and IC50 of specific concentrations of hydroalcoholic extract of fruits of Juniperus sabina were compared with hydroalcoholic extract of bark of Taxus baccata and Cisplatin, as well known anticancer compounds on normal cell lines (CHO and mice fibroblast) and cancer cell lines (HepG2 and SKOV3). Hydroalcoholic extract of the plant were prepared by perculation. The cytotoxic effects and IC50 of the extract on the cell lines were studied followed by clonogenic assay after 72h incubation.