In vitro evaluation of the anti-proliferative and geno-protective activity of traditional preparations of ayurvedic crude drugs

The research of new botanicals is an important aspect of the modern research focused on prevention and cure of cancer. This project evaluated the in vitro geno-protective capacity (SOS-Chromotest) and anti-proliferative activity (MCF7, A549, MDA-MB-231, LoVo, HepG2, K562, Jurkat and IB3-1 cell lines) of two traditional preparations, decoction and mother tincture, of two ayurvedic crude drugs: Hemidesmus indicus roots and Azadirachta indica leaves. Our previous results demonstrated an interesting antileukemic effect1,2 of H. indicus decoction. In present study both H. indicus preparations possess anti-proliferative activity against all the cell lines considered. Among phytochemical markers, the most active, 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde, showed an IC50 of 12.09±2.78 μg/ml against K562 and an IC50 of 13.15±5.57 μg/ml against Jurkat cells. The only relevant data for A. indica were against: MDA-MB-231 cell (IC50= 381.57±43.62 μg/ml) for decoction and K562 (IC50= 276.05±26.60 μg/ml) and Jurkat cells (IC50= 207.18±29.97 μg/ml) for mother tincture. Further analyses of anti-proliferative bioactivity for A. indica are still in progress. In conclusion: H. indicus preparations were more effective than those of A. indica; mother tincture of both crude drugs showed a general wider anti-proliferative activity than decoction, in particular for H. indicus, it evidenced promising data against Jurkat (63.79±7.97 μg/ml), Hep-G2 (34.50±0.14) and LoVo (29.84±0.24); H. indicus mother tincture and decoction were more effective than 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde against Hep-G2 cell, pointing out possible synergistic (agonistic) activity of minor compounds