Abstract

In Iraq like most third world countries, attempts to extract, identify and study the anticancer activity of the active components of plants and use it as drugs. Curcumin[(1E,6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hepta-1,6-diene-3,5dione] is the major yellow pigment extracted from turmeric, a commonly used spice, derived from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa. In India and Southeast Asia, turmeric has long been used as a treatment for inflammation, skin wounds and tumors. Curcumin has broad spectrum cancer chemo preventive activity in preclinical animal models. The extract of the herb curcumin, from Iraqi curcumin, was done by using of 95% ethanol as a solvent, then isolation of curcumin from the ethanolic extract by column chromatography, curcumin was characterized by Uv-visible, FT-IR and proton NMR spectroscopy. The study of anticancer activity of the curcumin and ethanolic extract were done in vivo on mice and in vitro on cell line. The extract showed a considerable anticancer activity against the cell line of human hepato cellular liver carcinoma.

Key words: Anticancer, curcumin, ethanol, extraction.