Aquilaria crassna has been used as a traditional medicinal plant to treat infectious and inflammatory diseases.
The present study was aimed to investigate the chemical profile of ethanol extract of A. crassna stem bark with
respect to the in vitro antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. Phytochemical analysis showed that the ethanol
extract of A. crassna is enriched with phenolic compounds (40.8% dry weight per gram of extract) followed by
flavonoids (15.9%), triterpenoids (10.5%), alkaloids (9.8%), saponins (4.1%) and tannins (3.1%). The extract
demonstrated significant antioxidant effects with IC50 values 62.8, 89.4 and 43.1 µg/ml in DPPH, ABTS and
FRAPS assays, respectively. The results were comparable with that of ascorbic acid. Furthermore, the extract
demonstrated potent anti-proliferative effect with IC50 30, 72, 119 and 140 µg/ml against pancreatic (PANC-
1), prostrate (PC3), colorectal (HCT 116) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cells, respectively. The extract showed
considerable anti-proliferative activity against human endothelial cells (HUVEC) with IC50 48 µg/ml. GC-MS
analysis revealed that the extract is enriched with diversified constituents majorly belong to essential oils,
phenolics and flavonoids. It can be concluded that the anti-oxidant and anticancer effects of the extract could
be due to the cumulative effect of the biologically active phytoconstituents present in the extract of A. crassna
stem bark
تاريخ النشر
10/05/2014
الناشر
Global Journal on Advances Pure and Applied Sciences