Antioxidant, AChE inhibitory, and anticancer effects of Verbascum thapsus extract

Abstract

Verbascum thapsus (Mullein) is a medicinal plant used in folk medicine to treat various ailments. For this study, the biological functions of Verbascum thapsus (VT) methanol extract were determined in vitro. The plant's methanol extract was created through the maceration process. The phytochemical composition of plant extracts was investigated using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The antioxidant capacity of the extract was determined using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH radical) and 2,2-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS radical). Cell lines Caco-2 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells), LNCaP (Lymph Node Carcinoma of Prostate), and HEK293 (Human embryonic kidney 293 cells) were used to model colon, prostate, and non-cancerous cells. The cytotoxic activity of the plant extract on the proliferation of these cells was determined by the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, a tetrazole) assay protocol. VT extract showed moderate DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities at 30 mg/ml concentration. With this, VT extract was determined to inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme and had strong cytotoxic activity on cancerous cell lines. In addition, our findings clearly showed that the plant extract had greater cytotoxic activity on the viability of cancerous cells compared to non-cancerous (Human embryonic kidney cells; HEK293) cells. The current findings showed that V. thapsus might be a promising anti-cancer medication candidate for the treatment of human colorectal adenocarcinoma and colon cancer, as well as a good source antioxidans. © 2023 by the C.M.B. Association.