In vitro antioxidant and cytotoxic potentials of different extracts of endemic plant "Tanacetum erzincanense"

This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant capacities of methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of endemic plant tanacetum erzincanense by ABTS, FRAP and CUPRAC methods and evaluate the antiproliferative activity of the methanol extract against HT-29 (colon), MCF-7 (breast) and HepG2 (liver) cancer cell lines in vitro. In addition, total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the plant were determined by Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminium nitrate colorimetric methods, respectively. Moreover, the individual phenolic content was identified qualitatively by Q-TOF-LC. The antioxidant activity results showed that the antioxidant capacities of both methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of tanacetum ersincanense increased with increasing concentration while displaying moderate activity compared to the antioxidant standards α-tocopherol, trolox, BHA and BHT. The plant extracts were found to contain medium level of phenolic content while higher level of flavonoid content when compared to other tanacetum species as well as many individual phenolic compounds. The anticancer activity results indicated that the cytotoxic potential of the methanol extract changed depending on the concentration and cell type tested. Although the extract displayed moderate level of cytotoxic activity against the cell lines, the highest cytotoxicity was observed on HepG2 cells.