Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the cytotoxic activity of the total extract (methanol 80%) and fractions from six Phlomis species, including P. anisodontea, P. bruguieri, P. caucasica, P. olivieri, P. persica and P. kurdica against four human cancer cell lines (HepG2, MCF7, HT29 and A549) and one normal cell line (MDBK).
The in vitro cytotoxicity of different concentrations (31.25 - 1000μg/mL) of the extracts and fractions evaluated by the MTT assay. Data revealed that all six extracts exhibited cytotoxic activity against at least one cancer cell line. The interesting cytotoxic activity on MCF7 cell line, respectively, was observed for dichloromethane fractions of P. anisodontea and P. Kurdica, and ethylacetate fractions of P. kurdica, P. anisodontea and P. bruguieri. In addition, the highest cytotoxic activity against A549 cells was found for ethylacetate fraction from P. caucasica and P. kurdica. Overall, the results of this study suggest that among selected plants, P. kurdica, P. anisodontea and P. caucasica are the best candidates for further investigations on the mechanisms of cytotoxic action and isolated the active compounds.

Key words: Phlomis species, cytotoxicity, MTT assay