Cytotoxicity of Alstonia scholaris (R.Br) bark on MCF-7 and Vero cell lines

Abstract

Alstonia scholaris R.Br (pulai) is one of traditional forest plant to treat many kinds of disease such as arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia. On the other hand research about this species as anti cancer is very limited. This study aimed to determine in vitro cytotoxic activity of three fraction of A. Scholaris bark against breast cancer (MCF-7) and normal (vero) cells. Three fractions of A. Scholaris bark (n-hexane, chloroform, and ethanol fractions) derived from 70% ethanol crude extracted pulai bark. MTT (3- 4,5-dimethylthiazol-2- -2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay applied tot MCF-7 and vero cells. The result showed that n-hexane fraction had the strongest cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 cells, followed by chloroform and ethanol fraction with IC50 values 109.01; 163.33; and 264.19 µg/mL respectively, but ethanol fraction is the least toxic on vero cells growth compared to n-hexane and chloroform fraction with IC50 value 579.93; 459.47; and 396.24 µg/mL respectively. It’s suggested that ethanol fraction is the best recommended fraction as anticancer agent because it was the least toxicity to the growth of normal cells, but still toxic to cancer cell. It was concluded that ethanol fraction was the best fraction to breast cancer cells.