Abstract

EVALUATION OF ANTI-CANCER POTENTIAL OF INDIAN MEDICINAL HERBS MORINDA TINCTORIA AND FICUS HISPIDA USING HELA CELL LINE BY MTT ASSAY METHOD

R. Kiruthiga and D. Sivaraman*

ABSTRACT

Cancer is a leading cause of death accounting for 15-20% of global mortality. Although advancements in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies have improved, many diseases like cancer are not yet curable completely. Most of the cases patient undergoing chemo and radiation therapy would have suffered with clinical conditions like alopecia, bone marrow depression and anaemia. Hence it is right time to explore phytocomponents from the natural origin for therapeutic treatment and clinical management of cancer. Morinda tinctoria commonly known as Aal or Indian mulberry, is a species of flowering plant belongs to the family Rubiaceae native to southern Asia. It is used for curing dyspepsia, diarrhoea, ulceration, Gastro-intestinal inflammation, digestion, wound healing and fever. Ficus hispida commonly known as peyatti or Hairy fig belongs to the family moraceae. It is extensively used as traditional medicine southern parts of India as astringent, anti-dysenteric, anti- inflammatory, haemostatic and galactagogue. Further they are useful in treating ulcer, leucoderma, psoriasis, anaemia, haemorrhoids, jaundice and epistaxis. Hence, the current study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-cancer activity of combined extract of Morinda tinctoria and Ficus hispida against HeLa cell line using MTT assay model. In-Vitro cytotoxicity assay for the combined extracts was conducted using HeLa cell line by MTT assay method. The result showed that, no of viable cells were found to be decreased with increase in dose concentration of the combined extract which confirms the anti-cancer and cytotoxic potential of the extracts.

Keywords: Cancer, anti-cancer activity, Morinda tinctoria, Ficus hispida, MTT assay, HeLa cell line.