Effects of fennel, asafetida and ginseng ethanolic extracts on growth and proliferation of mouse breast cancer 4T1 cell lines

The 4T1 cells tumor growth and metastatic pattern in BALB/c mice very closely mimic human breast cancer. These herbal remedies used in traditional folk medicine have been the source of many medically beneficial drugs. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the anti-proliferative activity of the asafoetida, ginseng and fennel ethanolic extracts on mouse breast cancer 4T1 cell-line invitro. in this experimental study, Asafoetida, gensing and fennel were extracted; 4T1 mouse mammary tumor cell line were cultured in 48-well flat bottom plate in density of 50x103 per well in 100 µl RPMI1640 medium then different dilutions of each extract (25, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 2000 μg/ml) were added to cell culture. Cells then were incubated at 37 oC for 24 hours. After 24 h, cell Proliferation was determined by the BRDU assay. Mouse breast cancer 4T1 cell line was incubated with different doses of extracts. After 24h, cell proliferation was determined by the BrdU assay and the dose of 50μg/ml of fennel showed the best inhibitory effect. Anti-tumor activities of fennel, asafetida and ginseng ethanolic extracts may decrease proliferation activity of 4T1 cell line in vitro. The results suggested that fennel, asafetida and ginseng ethanolic extracts induce apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation in vitro and fennel had the best anti proliferation effect.