Antioxidative and <it>in vitro </it>antiproliferative activity of <it>Arctium lappa </it>root extracts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Arctium lappa</it>, known as burdock, is widely used in popular medicine for hypertension, gout, hepatitis and other inflammatory disorders. Pharmacological studies indicated that burdock roots have hepatoprotective,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Carvalho João E, Foglio Mary A, Ruiz Ana LTG, Predes Fabricia S, Dolder Heidi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2011-03-01
Series:BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Online Access:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/11/25
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Summary:<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Arctium lappa</it>, known as burdock, is widely used in popular medicine for hypertension, gout, hepatitis and other inflammatory disorders. Pharmacological studies indicated that burdock roots have hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, free radical scavenging and antiproliferative activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate total phenolic content, radical scavenging activity by DPPH and <it>in vitro </it>antiproliferative activity of different <it>A. lappa </it>root extracts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Hot and room temperature dichloromethanic, ethanolic and aqueous extracts; hydroethanolic and total aqueous extract of <it>A. lappa </it>roots were investigated regarding radical scavenging activity by DPPH, total phenolic content by Folin-Ciocalteau method and antiproliferative <it>in vitro </it>activity was evaluated in human cancer cell lines. The hydroethanolic extract analyzed by high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Higher radical scavenging activity was found for the hydroethanolic extract. The higher phenolic contents were found for the dichloromethane, obtained both by Soxhlet and maceration extraction and hydroethanolic extracts. The HRESI-MS demonstrated the presence of arctigenin, quercetin, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid compounds, which were identified by comparison with previous data. The dichloromethane extracts were the only extracts that exhibited activity against cancer cell lines, especially for K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 cell lines.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The hydroethanolic extracts exhibited the strongest free radical scavenging activity, while the highest phenolic content was observed in Soxhlet extraction. Moreover, the dichloromethanic extracts showed selective antiproliferative activity against K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 human cancer cell lines.</p>
ISSN:1472-6882