ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTI-TUMOUR ACTIVITIES OF INULA VISCOSA L EXTRACT-LOADED NANOFIBROUS MATS FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Plants have been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Knowledge of traditional medicine has encouraged the further exploration of medicinal plants as potential drugs. Therefore, in this study, IVE-loaded PLA/PEG nanofibrous mats were successfully produced by the electrospinning method. When the SEM images were analysed, it was seen that nanofibrous patches with a smooth surface were acquired in both the pure and IVE-loaded nanofibrous mats. A significant reduction in the mean fibre diameters was seen with the implication of the plant extract. Based on the FT-IR and DSC studies, it was proven that the IVE is fully incorporated into the PLA/PEG nanofibrous mats. In the tensile test results, it was observed that the addition of the IVE to the PLA/PEG combination increased the tensile strength. Considering the antioxidant activity results, it was observed that while the PLA/PEG did not show any antioxidant effect, the antioxidant activity increased with the concentration of the IVE ratio in the nanofibrous mats. Based on the in vitro tests using HCT-116 colon cancer cells, the IVE dramatically and dose-dependently reduced the cell proliferation in the tested cancer cell lines. When all the results are evaluated, it is thought that IVE-loaded nanofibrous mats can be a new and effective treatment against the disease in biomedical applications.

Keywords

• electrospinning
• antioxidant activity
• anti-tumour activity
• polylactic acid
• polyethylene glycol
• inula viscosa (l.)