Antioxidant and antineoplastic activities of methanolic extract of Kaempferia galanga Linn. Rhizome against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells

Abstract

As sources of natural products, medicinal plants bear a great interest for researcher in recent decades and this interest has increased considerably in finding naturally occurring antioxidant and antineoplastic compounds. Kaempferia galangal Linn., is an important member of medicinal flora available in Bangladesh and used traditionally for the prevention of numerous diseases. The present study was designed to investigate the antioxidant and antineoplastic activities of methanol extract of Kaempferia galanga rhizome (MEKGR). In vitro models and MTT assays were used to determine the antioxidant and in vitro antineoplastic properties of MEKGR. Antineoplastic effect of MEKGR against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) were assessed in vivo by evaluating the viable tumor cell count, survival time, body weight gain due to tumor burden, observing morphological changes and nuclear damage of EAC cells by fluorescence microscope and estimating hematological profiles of experimental mice. Chemical composition was also analyzed by GC–MS. Treatment with MEKGR significantly (p < 0.05) reduced viable EAC cells and weight gain and increased life span. MEKGR restored all hematological parameters, such as RBC, WBC, hemoglobin (Hb%) of EAC-bearing mice towards normal level. Membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation, nuclear fragmentations were observed after treatment with MEKGR. MEKGR exhibited strong antioxidant activity. TPC (Total phenolic content) and TFC (Total flavonoid content) were found strongly correlated (P < 0.05) with antioxidant activities of MEKGR. 2-Propenoic acid, phthalic acid, palmitic acid, sandaracopimaradiene, oleic acid, octadecanoic acid, 2-[2-(4-nonylphenoxy) ethoxy] ethanol and glycidyl stearate were identified as the major constituents of MEKGR by GC–MS analysis. The overall findings of this study suggest that MEKGR may provide a natural source of antioxidant and antineoplastic activities. Keywords: Kaempferia galanga L. rhizome, Antioxidant activity, Anticancer activity, Apoptosis, GC–MS analysis