Toxicity Comparison of Four Cruciferous Plant Extracts and Evaluation of Their Cytotoxicity - Radical Scavenging Correlations

Background: The plants belonging to Cruciferae family are of importance due to their potential to curb some diseases such as cancer through their bioactive compounds. In fact, the plants of this family can be considered as a potent source for discovering and developing novel anticancer compounds. Objectives: In the present study, total extracts of four cruciferous plants from Iran namely Cardaria draba (CD), Rorippa sylvestris (RS), Sameraria nummularia (SN), and Cardamine uliginosa (CU) were screened for cytotoxicity action using shrimp lethality assay. Methods: The plant materials were extracted with 80% ethanol and the cytotoxicity effects of extractives were finally determined at times of 24 and 48 hours by the shrimp toxicity bioassay technique. The median lethal concentrations (LC50) of each extractive against shrimps were calculated using probit analysis and compared with vincristine sulfate (VS). Results: The 24 h LC50 values for CD, RS, SN, and CU extractives against brine shrimp were calculated as 147.21 ± 4.13, 169.39 ± 4.29, 162.97 ± 4.95, and 176.88 ± 4.80 μg/mL, respectively. The minimum and maximum 48 h LC50 values of 78.17 ± 3.10 and 120.97 ± 2.73 μg/mL were obtained for CD and CU extracts, respectively, when compared to that of VS with the value of 1.02 ± 0.18 μg/mL. There was no significant association (R2 < 0.7) between the scavenging activity and LC50 values of the four extractives. Conclusions: The study concludes that Cardaria draba extract has more potent cytotoxic activity than the other extracts and it has a remarkable potential for development of natural - based novel anticancer drugs.