Exploring the antioxidant, anticancer properties and phenolic composition of Anchusa strigosa

This study utilised A. strigose, a herbaceous plant widely used in folk medicine and commonly distributed in the Middle East. The antioxidant activity in the extracts of this plant has been underscored. It employed the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) technique to separate and identify phenolic compounds and evaluate their activities. Ex vivo biological activity was assessed through the utilization of the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and HCs (healthy controls) tests. The DPPH test was employed to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the separated phenolic compounds in vitro. Phenolic compounds showed varying antioxidant activity on two cancer cell lines, sarcoma RSAR001 and melanoma A375. Based on cytometric indicators, the results demonstrated that the separated compounds induced apoptosis in cancer cells. The results of the MTT test revealed that the fraction (I) applied to sarcoma (RSAR001) exhibited inhibition percentages of 35.30%, 55.99%, 64.21%, 72.34%, 4.47% and 24.96% at concentrations of 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 400µg/ml, respectively. Similarly, the fraction (II) tested on RSAR001 showed inhibition percentages of 5.90%, 21.60%, 35.61%, 46.53%, 4.40% and 5.23% at concentrations of 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 400µg/ml, respectively. These findings suggest that A. strigosa possesses potential antioxidant and anticancer activities.