Evaluation of Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activity of Hydro-Ethanolic Extracts Obtained from Cuatrec.

In this work, the antioxidant activity of the hydro-ethanolic extracts of the leaves, flowers, and aerial parts of Cuatrec, both fresh and post-distillation, was evaluated by ABTS, FRAP, HO and DPPH assays. The cytotoxic activity was evaluated in MCF-7, MCF-10A and HT-29 cell lines. The hydro-ethanolic extracts were obtained by matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) and ultrasound-assisted solvent extraction (SE). The fresh-leaf MSPD extract had the highest antioxidant activity, and the post-distillation leaf ultrasound-assisted SE extract had the highest cytotoxicity in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, although not selective, which was evaluated by sulforhodamine B assay. On the other hand, ROS was evaluated by flow cytometry which showed that post-distillation leaf extract is pro-oxidant. Chlorogenic acid, kaempferol-3-glucoside and quercetin were found in the fresh leaves' extracts, according to HPLC-DAD. PLC-DAD permitted the isolation of -coumaric acid, -3-(4-((()-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) acryloyl) oxy)-3-hydroxyphenyl) acrylic acid and a diglucosylated derivative of ursolic acid, which were analyzed by H and C NMR. Our results suggest that the fresh leaf extract of Cuatrec has potential use for antioxidant applications.