Antioxidant and anticancer activities of methanolic, ethyl acetate and chloroform extracts of Arum Palaestinum

Phenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant and anticancer activities of the methanolic, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of Arum Palaestinum were evaluated. The highest phenolic (mg gallic acid equiv./g dry extract) and flavonoid (mg quercetin equiv./g dry extract) contents were observed in the methanolic (30. 9±0.2; 14.4±0.8), followed by chloroform (13.7±0.6; 11.9±0.9) and ethyl acetate (5.3±0.6; 8.5±0.8) extracts, respectively. The FRAP and DPPH antioxidant activities were highly correlated with the phenolic's and flavonoid's contents. The antiproliferative effects of the extracts were evaluated against the T cell lymphoblastic leukemia, Jurkat cells at 24 and 48 hr. Results showed a dose dependent reduction in cell proliferation, with more significance at 48 hrs. The IC₅₀ values were (17.5±2.1µg/mL), (19.7±2.8µg/mL) and (23.3±2.8µg/mL) for ethyl acetate, methanol and chloroform extracts, respectively at non-cytotoxic concentrations. The present data suggests a lack of correlation between antioxidant and anticancer activities and further investigation is needed to elucidate the mechanism of action involved and to identify the active components.