Abstract

Ferulago angulata (FA), also known as Chovir, is one of the indigenous plants used in Persian medicinal herbs. Although, recent studies have demonstrated anti-tumor activities on cancer cells in vitro, but the exact mechanism is not completely clarified. Furthermore, the objective of this study was to examine the in vitro cytotoxic activities of methanol extract of F. angulata on B-cell lymphoma (Raji), human leukemic monocyte lymphoma (U937), human acute myelocytic leukemia (KG-1A) and human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC)cell lines by a micro-culture tetrazolium test (MTT) cytotoxicity and trypan blue assays. Cell death enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to quantify the nucleosome production subsequent nuclear DNA fragmentation during apoptosis and to test whether the mechanism involves induction of apoptosis or not. Results showed that methanol extract at 50 to 800 µg/ml time and dose-dependently suppressed the proliferation of Raji, U937 and KG-1A cells by more than 80% (p < 0.01), with ascending order of IC₅₀values in 24 h: Raji (121.404 µg/ml), U937 (208.019 µg/ml) and KG-1A (211.011 µg/ml). The extract did not exert any significant cytotoxic effect on normal cell line HUVEC (IC₅₀ > 800 µg/ml). Nucleosome productions in Raji, U937 and KG-1A cells were significantly increased upon the treatment of F. angulata extract. F. angulata extract was found to selectively time and dose-dependently inhibit the proliferation of lymphoma and leukemic cells probably via an apoptosis-dependent pathway.

Key words: Ferulago angulata, cytotoxic, apoptosis, antitumor, lymphoma, leukemia.