Antioxidant and Apoptotic Effect of Muscari muscarimi, an Endemic Geophyte Species from Turkey

Abstract

Muscari muscarimi Medik., which is an endangered and endemic geophyte species of Turkey, was studied for antioxidant, cytotoxic and apoptotic potentials. The antioxidant effect of the extracts (ethanol and methanol) provided from the flower and bulbs of M. muscarimi was tested through the antioxidant potency by phosphomolybdenum assay, the reducing power assay, metal chelating ability, nitric oxide scavenging and ABTS radical cation scavenging capability methods. Also, total flavonoid and saponin content of the extracts was specified. Cytotoxic activity of the extracts was assessed and screened against human MCF-7, HeLa and H1299 cancer cells. Terminal transferase dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay was applied to cancer cells for the determination of the late apoptotic changes. Antioxidant potencies in bulb extracts were observed to be lower than the flower extracts. However, the cytotoxicity and TUNEL assay revealed that the bulb extracts exhibited more marked anticancer activity against H1299 cell line than the other cell lines. Based on the in vitro data, M. muscarimi warrants further studies to isolate novel compounds for chemotherapeutic use. © 2021. Jordan Journal of Biological Sciences. All Rights Reserved.