Total flavonoid content and cytotoxicity of Jurinea leptoloba extract collected from south of Shiraz on human lymphocytes and tumor HeLa cells

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women in the world. So far, many natural products have been identified as potent anti-cancer agents. The large Eurasion genus Jurinea (tribe Cynareae, subtribe Carduinae) has 250 species. In this study, the aerial parts of Jurinea leptoloba DC., from Compositae were collected from south of Shiraz in August 2012. Defatted extract of J. leptoloba was investigated for total flavonoid content and cytotoxic properties. Total flavonoid content was determined as mg catechin equivalents (CE) / g dried extract using spectrophotometer methods. Total flavonoid content (TFC) of the extract of J. leptoloba was determined to be 98.81±7.74 mg catechin equivalent/g sample. Cytotoxicity was measured using a modified MTT assay on normal human lymphocytes and tumor HeLa cells. The results indicated that the extract of J. leptoloba exhibited a dose-dependent cytotoxicity against HeLa and lymphocyte cells. The LD50 values for HeLa and lymphocyte cells were obtained to be 11.12 µg/ml and 6068.64 µg/ml, respectively The LD50 shows that the cytotoxicity of the extract of J. leptoloba on human cancer cell lines is much higher than that observed in normal lymphocytes. The results obtained suggest that J. leptoloba extract may be exploited as a natural anti-oxidant and anti-cancer agent with low adverse side effects.