Planta Med 2009; 75 - PE40
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1234601

Cytotoxic and estrogenic activity of the Thai rejuvenating medicinal plants on MCF-7 mammary cancer cell

R Panriansaen 1, W Cherdshewasart 2
  • 1Program of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine, Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, U-Thong Road, Dusit, Bangkok, 10300, Thailand
  • 2Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

The twenty one extracts of the Thai medicinal plants used in rejuvenating medicine; Acacia farnesiana, Leucaena leucocephala, Butea superba, Pueraria mirifica, Mucuna collettii, Kaempferia parviflora, Fagraea fragrans, Ziziphus attopensis, Anaxagorea luzonensis, Dracaena conferta, Streblus asper, Gelonum muliflorum, Vitex negundo, Diospyros rhodcalyx, Albizia procera, Tinaspora crispa, Stephania venosa, Stephania erecta, Piper nigrum, Phyllanthus emblica, Melia azedarach, Cyperus rotundus were evaluated for cytotoxic and estrogenic activity on MCF-7 mammary cancer cells at the concentration of 0, 0.1, 1, 10 100 and 1000µg/ml for 72 hours. The incubated cell cultures were determined and calculated for the growth percentage compared with the control group (DMSO) by MTT assay. The results showed that plant samples at the concentration of 0.1–1 and 10µg/ml were not influenced to the cell growth rate (106.88±18.53 and 101.60±25.82, respectively). Melia azedarach and Fagraea fragrans exhibited the highest (416.37%) and lowest (0.00%) cell growth, respectively. All plant extracts showed significantly higher IC50 than the control with seven plants exhibited IC50>1000µg/ml, and thirteen plants exhibited proliferative effect to MCF-7 in the same pattern as estradiol. The results demonstrated that there are some Thai medicinal plants with estrogenic activity present in the traditional Thai remedies for rejuvenating purposes.

Acknowledgements: The authors thank the Office of Research and Academic Service, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, and National Research Council of Thailand for a grant support.

References: [1] Freshney, R.I. (1994) Culture of animal cell: A manual of basic technique. Wiley-Liss, Inc. New York.

[2]iMedical Registration Division, Ministry of Public Health. (1998) The Thai Traditional Remedies: Pharmacological Division. Bangkok: Co-operation community of Thailand Printing.

[3]iOgawa, S. et al. (1998) Endocrinology 139:5070–5081.