A NOVEL ANTI-PROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITY (EC50) OF PEGAGA (Centella asiatica) EXTRACT THROUGH IN VITRO 3-D CULTURE MICROENVIRONMENT

Centella asiatica or pegaga is one of the botanical plants that consists of many phytochemicals and is known for being able to offer various effects on wound healing, as well as functioning as an antioxidant and anticancer property. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the efficacy of Centella asiatica water and alcohol-based extracts on the anti-proliferative activity of human lung cancer cells (A549) and normal fibroblast (IMR90) by mean of in vitro 3-D cell culture system. A porous 3-D scaffold was fabricated from poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) using solvent-casting particulate-leaching (SCPL) process. Antioxidant analysis (total phenolic content (TPC), DPPH and FRAP assays) was conducted prior to the 3-D cell culture study. The results showed that the extract contained 7.50 ± 1.10 mg/ml of asiaticoside and 0.74 ± 0.24 mg/ml of madecassoside. These bio-active compounds were believed to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells (A549). The availability of phenolic compounds in the extract (TPC: 10133 ± 119.30 mg/100 g) had proven that the antioxidant properties existed. Moreover, the other values obtained from the antioxidant analysis revealed its capacity as a good source of antioxidant (DPPH: 87 ± 1.0%; FRAP: 127 ± 14.98 mg/100 g). Next, the lung cancer cells (A549) were cultured using a two-dimensional (2-D) system to generate the IC50 value of 5.75 ± 1.0 µg/ml. The A549 cell viability (MTS assay)  after a 3-day incubation exhibited a good sign of mortality  for the both treated models ranging from 55% to 70% as compared to control one (without treatment) ( p> 0.05). However, when the extract was exposed to a normal fibroblast IMR90, the cell growth of the both treated models exhibited an almost 2-fold greater cell numbers than that of the untreated models ( p< 0.05) indicating that the extract did not possess any possible threat to a normal and healthy cell. Therefore, the use of Centella asiatica extracts in terminating cancer cells has been proven to be able to inhibit cell growth (greater than 40%) in just 3 days of incubation.