Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Jul;29(34):51768-51777. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19529-9. Epub 2022 Mar 6.
Cancer is reported to be the leading cause of death and illness worldwide. This research aims to evaluate the phytochemicals, antioxidant, cytotoxic, and apoptotic activities of the polyherbal formulation HF6. HF6 was prepared by blending equal quantities of plants powder, namely, Curcuma longa, Salvia officinalis, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Capsicum annuum, Zingiber officinale, and Syzygium aromaticum, and later extracted using hexane (HF6H), chloroform (HF6C), ethyl acetate (HF6E), and methanol (HF6M) in Soxhlet apparatus. Among the four different extracts, only the hexane extract (HF6H) was significantly effective. The HF6H extract showed antioxidant and anticancer potentials against different cancer cell lines, and moderate cytotoxicity against non-cancer cells, rendering it a promising remedy. In addition, it exerted tremendous cytotoxic effects on MCF-7, Huh-7, HCT116, MDA-MB-231, LoVo, and HepG2 cells with IC values of 2.02, 4.5, 6.9, 11.4, 23.5, and 34.7 µg/mL, respectively. The morphological hallmarks of apoptosis such as the rounding of cells, loss of contact with neighboring cells, formation of cell membrane blebbing, and microspike protrusion were detected using several different techniques. DAPI staining revealed apoptotic nuclear morphology such as condensation and DNA fragmentation. The morphological changes of MCF7 cells were also analyzed by AO/EB fluorescence staining. MCF7-stained green cells were viable cells, whereas the treated cells showed fragmented green nuclei representing early apoptosis. The phytochemical screening of HF6H showed positive results regarding the presence of alkaloids, polyphenols, flavonoids, and sterols. The GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) analysis of the HF6H extract indicated the presence of 12 compounds, mainly trans-caryophyllene (21.55%), cis-isoeugenol (18.42%), acetyleugenol (17.53%), alpha farnesene (10.0%), and zingiberene (8.55%). However, further investigation could be carried out to examine the toxicity of the extract on animal models.
癌症是全球范围内导致死亡和疾病的主要原因。本研究旨在评估多草药配方 HF6 的植物化学物质、抗氧化、细胞毒性和细胞凋亡活性。HF6 通过混合等量的植物粉末（即姜黄、迷迭香、肉桂、辣椒、生姜和丁香）制备而成，然后使用索氏提取器用己烷 (HF6H)、氯仿 (HF6C)、乙酸乙酯 (HF6E) 和甲醇 (HF6M) 进行提取。在四种不同的提取物中，只有己烷提取物 (HF6H) 具有显著的效果。HF6H 提取物显示出对不同癌细胞系的抗氧化和抗癌潜力，对非癌细胞具有中等的细胞毒性，因此具有很大的应用潜力。此外，它对 MCF-7、Huh-7、HCT116、MDA-MB-231、LoVo 和 HepG2 细胞表现出巨大的细胞毒性作用，IC 值分别为 2.02、4.5、6.9、11.4、23.5 和 34.7 µg/mL。使用几种不同的技术检测到凋亡的形态特征，如细胞圆化、与邻近细胞失去接触、细胞膜起泡和微刺突起。DAPI 染色显示出核形态的凋亡特征，如核浓缩和 DNA 片段化。通过 AO/EB 荧光染色分析 MCF7 细胞的形态变化。绿色 MCF7 染色的细胞是存活细胞，而经处理的细胞显示出碎片化的绿色核，代表早期凋亡。HF6H 的植物化学筛选显示出存在生物碱、多酚、类黄酮和甾醇的阳性结果。HF6H 提取物的 GC-MS（气相色谱-质谱）分析表明存在 12 种化合物，主要为反式石竹烯（21.55%）、顺式异丁香酚（18.42%）、乙酰丁香酚（17.53%）、α-法呢烯（10.0%）和姜烯（8.55%）。然而，还需要进一步的研究来检查提取物对动物模型的毒性。
