Chemical characterization, antioxidant and anticancer activity evaluation of methanolic and alkaloid extracts of two Retama species

Retama dasycarpa Coss. and Retama sphaerocarpa (L.) Boiss. are two Moroccan medicinal plants, belonging to the Fabaceae family. These plants have been used traditionally for the treatment of different diseases such as purgative, anthelmintic, and abortive. Moreover, studies have been reported on several pharmacological activities, including hypoglycemic, cytotoxic, antiviral and anti-inflammatory [1].

In the frame of a project oriented to study the phytochemical composition and the bioactivity of Moroccan medicinal plants, an investigation of methanolic and alkaloidic extracts from the aerial parts of Retama dasycrpa and Retama sphaerocarpa was carried out. Then the antioxidant and antiproliferative activity against melanoma cell lines (A375) and adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cell lines (A549) by MTT assay were studied [2]. The characterization of the metabolites was performed by HRMS/MS. The analysis of the methanolic extract revealed the presence of different flavonoids and particularly isoflavones, while the alkaloid extract showed the presence of quinolizidine alkaloids [3].

The results of the antiproliferative activity showed that alkaloidic extracts from both species were able to inhibit cell growth in a dose-dependent manner after 48 h of treatment, in the (A549) cell lines. The IC₅₀ values for (A549) were 10.20 ± 1.48 and 18.12 ± 0.72 µg/ml, respectively, while no activity was observed for (A375) cell lines. Furthermore, the antioxidant assays of the methanolic extracts showed that R. sphaerocarpa exhibited the highest DPPH free radical scavenging activity with EC₅₀ = 222±4.2 µg/ml compared to 314 ± 7 µg/ml for R. dasycarpa.

Both species could be considered as potential sources of bioactive compounds that can be useful for pharmaceutical treatment.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 December 2022

• References

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