Cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines, phenol and flavonoid contents, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis and antioxidant activity of Maerua pseudopetalosa (Gilg and Bened) De Wolf fractions

Maerua pseudopetalosa (Gilg and Bened.) De Wolf tubers which are used traditionally as antitumor agent in Sudan were subjected to separation by column chromatography technique. Eight fractions were obtained for the ethyl acetate extract and twelve for the ethanolic extract. The ethanolic fractions F8, F9, F11 and F12, with high bioactivity were subjected to further investigations. 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used for assessment of the cytotoxicity. Remarkable cytotoxicity against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) was shown, for the first time. Actually, the results revealed that F12 is a very promising one with remarkable activity against MCF-7 cell lines (43.51 µg/g at 72 h), high antioxidant activity (91.3% by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and 97% by ABTS) and flavonoid and phenolic contents (11.75 and 20.72 mg/g). Six compounds were detected in F9 (syrngic 11.65 µg/g, sinapic 8 µg/g) and F12 (gallic 88.12 µg/g, caffic 11.1 µg/g, sinapic 38.67 µg/g) which were not recorded in any previous work in the available literature by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Key words: Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) breast cancer, Maerua pseudopetalosa, phenol and flavonoid contents, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis, antioxidant activity.