• Evaluation of antioxidant compounds and cytotoxicity of an ethanol extract of Amaranthus retroflexus on human lung cancer A549 cell line
  • Mohammad amin sheikh,1,* Babak Babakhani,2
    1. Department of Biology, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon Branch, Tonekabon, Iran
    2. Department of Biology, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon Branch, Tonekabon, Iran


  • Introduction: Lung cancer is the most common cancers and chemotherapy cancer treatment is one of the methods, but because of the lack of selective cytotoxicity, it leads to the occurrence of intolerable side of the screw. Thus recently, natural products extracted from medicinal plants can play an important role in cancer treatment. Based on medicinal effect of the Amaranthus retroflexus, it was aimed in this study to determine the content and activity of some antioxidant compounds and the inhibitory effects of their crude extract on lung cancer A549 cell line, too.
  • Methods: The plant of A. retroflexus were harvested from the region of Abbas ababd city and A549 cells line was cultivated and proliferated. Then, the cells exposed to different concentrations of the extract of A. retroflexus (31.25 to 2000 μg/ml) were incubed for 24, 48, and 72 hours. After the incubation period, the colorimetric MTT method was used to determine cytotoxicity. Also, total phenol, flavonoid, anthocyanin, and carotenoid contents were determined as well as antioxidant activity of extract using DPPH method.
  • Results: The results showed that the highest total phenol, flavonoids, and anthocyanins were in leaves and the highest total carotenoids were seen in flower. The results have also shown that extract in concentration 2000 μg/ml highest inhibition of cancer cell growth that is 90.88%. Further, the results showed that the extract of different parts of plant had a good antioxidant activity and the highest antioxidant activity in the leave and flower extracts were 59.89 and 62.98% respectively.
  • Conclusion: These results suggest that extract of Amaranthus retroflexus have the most antioxidant and cytotoxicity against A549 cell line. It seems to come with further research, and utilizes its compound in cancer treatment.
  • Keywords: Amaranthus retroflexus, Antioxidant compounds, Cells line, Lung cancer