Abstract
Background: Saururus cernuus (Sc) is a small plant, used for the treatment of various human inflammations. The present study aimed at investigating the cytotoxic potential of the methanolic extract of this plant against brine shrimp larvae and human carcinoma cells at normoxic conditions. Materials and Methods: The in vivo lethality test was evaluated at various doses against brine shrimp larvae at different time periods. Similarly, the extract was tested for 48 h at various concentrations against human CL-18 and MDA-MB-231 carcinoma cell lines and the toxicity was evaluated using the dye binding crystal-violet assay method. Results: In the shrimp assay, the extract was very active, with ED50 values ranging from 1.83±0.2 to 2.79±0.2 μg/ml at various incubation periods. The extract was also very potent in human CL-18 and MDA-MB-231 cultures with LD50 values of 1.9±0.17 and 0.26±0.03 μg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that Sc extract contains very stable, potent anticancer compounds, which gain access into the cells quickly and kill carcinoma cells and shrimp larvae at normoxic conditions.
- Received October 5, 2006.
- Revision received November 28, 2006.
- Accepted December 1, 2006.
- Copyright© 2007 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved