Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques. UMR IRD/UPS 152. 35 ch. des Maraîchers, F-31062 Toulouse, France. [email protected]
INTRODUCTION: In our work, we evaluate the potential antioxidant, antimalarial activity and also activity against human breast cancer cells (MCF7) of Argan fruit extracts using in vitro models to validate the traditional use of this plant. Its chemical composition was also studied to begin the understanding of its activities, waiting to find the structure-activity relationship.
RESULTS: Polyphenols (89.4-218.5 eqGallic acid (mg/g dry)), tannins (39.3-214.0 eq Catechin (mg/g dry)), flavonoids (3.4-11.1 eqQuercetin (mg/g dry)) and anthocyanins (0.74-10.92 eqCyanindin (mug/g dry)) were quantified. A good (ethyl acetate and decoction) and moderate (petroleum ether) antioxidant activity were obtained for DPPH (IC(50) 32.3-600.8 microg/ml) and ABTS (IC(50) 11.9-988.8 microg/ml) assays. In addition, we found a good antimalarial activity (IC(50) 35 to >100 microg/ml) and human breast cancer cells activity (IC(50) 42 to >100 microg/ml).
Discussion Tocopherols and saponins derived from A. spinosa exert an antiproliferative effect on human prostate cancer (Drissi et al., 2006). In our work, we showed that the EA extract of A. spinosa was cytotoxic at 42 [micro]g/ml against human breast cancer cells (MCF7).
CONCLUSIONS: The ethyl acetate extract and the decoction show interesting antimalarial and antioxidant activities. The results indicate a good correlations between anthocyanins quantitiy and the potential antioxidant (R(2)=0.9867) and also to antimalarial activity