High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and cytotoxicity studies on narcissus species cultivated in the flora of türkiye

Narcissus species (Amaryllidaceae) are pharmaceutically important plants because they contain alkaloids that may be biologically active. These alkaloids have been shown to have cytotoxic, cholinesterase inhibitory, antibacterial, and wound-healing activities. In this thesis, ethanolic extracts of bulbs and leaves of ten Narcissus species belonging to three different Narcissus taxa (Narcissus serotinus L., Narcissus tazetta L. subsp. aureus (Jord. & Fourr.) Baker, Narcissus tazetta L. subsp. tazetta), collected from different regions of Türkiye and subsequently cultivated, were studied. The cytotoxicity of these extracts on various breast cancer cell lines with different etiologies (MCF-7, SK-BR-3, MDA-MB-468) and healthy cells (rat myoblast cardiac muscle cell H9c2) was investigated using the resazurin assay; and the amounts of alkaloids with anticancer potential (lycorine, pseudolycorine, narciclasine, haemanthamine) in their composition were also investigated using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). All ethanolic bulb extracts of daffodil samples showed significant cytotoxic activity, while ethanolic leaf extracts exhibited lower cytotoxic activity. All extracts showed a safer profile than clinically used doxorubicin on healthy cells. The ethanolic bulb extract of N. serotinus showed the highest cytotoxic effect, standing out with an IC50 value of 0.64 ± 0.10 µg/mL and a selectivity index of 7.20 in the MDA-MB-468 cell line. Furthermore, this extract was found to have the highest narciclasine content. In our thesis study, the cytotoxic activities and cytotoxic alkaloid contents of Narcissus samples of the same genus and/or species, collected from different locations and cultured in our country, were comparatively evaluated and discussed, and their anticancer potential was revealed. Keywords: Narcissus, alkaloid, breast cancer, cytotoxicity, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Supporting Institution: H.U. Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project No: THD-2025-22175)