LAUSR

Abstract Objective To determine the medicinal potential of various plants and their parts extracted with different solvents. Methods The total phenolic content of acetonitrile/water (60%-40%) (ACN/W) and aqueous (W) extract fractions was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and terpenic compounds were detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Antioxidant activity of the samples was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and β-carotene bleaching method. Cell viability was investigated by thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol)-2-yl 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT) assay. The mechanisms involved in cytotoxic activity were investigated in a murine macrophage cell line (RAW 264.7) and cancer lines. Results Our findings show that 11 plant species exhibited biological activity. In addition, moderate antibacterial activity was reported against one or more of the tested bacterial strains at two concentrations: 300 µg and 3 mg/disc. Furthermore, our data reveal that among all plants investigated, some extract and hydrophobic fractions were potent scavengers of the DPPH radical (6.78 µg/mL 400, 47.20, and 116.74 µg/mL, respectively. The current work demonstrates that RAW 264.7 cell proliferation was inhibited by samples in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion Our findings, validated through free radical scavenging activity, agar diffusion assay, and cytotoxicity of essential oils towards cancer cells, show that ethnomedicinal plants used in this work have a novel application as a tumor suppressor.