• Evaluation of antioxidant and anticancer activity of methanolic extract of Prangos crossoptera.
  • Zahra Derakhshan Horeh,1,* Maryam Moori,2
    1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University , Shahrekord, Iran
    2. Cancer Alternative and Complementary Medicine Department, Breast Cancer Research Center, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Medicinal plants are sources of natural active compounds that can be used to prevent and treat diseases. Prangos genus is one of the most important medicinal plants. The members of the Prangos genus have been widely used in the Iranian traditional medicine for different purposes. This genus consists of about 30 species. In Iran 15 species are present, among which five are endemic. Prangos crossoptera with the common Persian name of "Jashir-e-Zagrosy" is a perennial plant from Apiaceae family which is endemic to Iran. According to the literature, biological properties of Prangos crossoptera have already been the subject of a few investigations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and anticancer activity of methanolic extract of Prangos crossoptera.
  • Methods: In the current study, the plant samples were collected from Kurdistan province in Iran. For preparing the methanolic extract, 10 mg of powdered shade-dried plant were macerated with methanol (1:10) three times. The antioxidant potential of the plant extract was evaluated by DPPH (2, 2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl) assay with reference to a synthetic antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Anticancer activity of the methanolic extract was examined on human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) using [3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) method.
  • Results: The DPPH assay showed that the methanolic extract of studied plant had significant antioxidant effect and could scavenge free radicals with IC50 value of 0.1 mg/ml. Moreover, this assay indicated that methanolic extract had higher antioxidant activity compared with BHT as a synthetic standard antioxidant (with IC50 value of 0.13 mg/ml). Evaluation of anticancer effect of extract showed that the viability of MCF-7 cells was inhibited in a time and dose- dependent manner. MTT assay indicated that different concentrations of the extract reduced the viability of MCF-7 cells after 4, 8 and 24h of incubation, with IC50 values of 0.87, 0.51 and 0.24 mg/mL, respectively. A 100% cytotoxicity was observed in concentrations higher than 1mg/mL.
  • Conclusion: The obtained results showed that Prangos crossoptera had a significant antioxidant effect and a high reducing power. On the other hand, this plant played an acceptable anticancer role. Therefore, Prangos crossoptera can be used as effective sources to develop anticancer drugs. It is recommended to determine the important components of this plant and assess their anticancer mechanisms.
  • Keywords: Prangos crossoptera, anticancer effect, antioxidant effect