RESEARCH ON VITRO ANTI-OXIDANT AND ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY OF CYNOMORIUM SONGARICUM RUPR.’S EXTRACTS

LIN YANG^1*, HONG-XIA SHI², PENG LIN¹, HONG-YAN XUE¹, YONG-GANG WANG¹, XIAO-FENG LIU¹

¹The Key Lab of Screening, Evaluation and Advanced Processing of TCM and Tibetan Medicine, Gansu Educational Department, School of Life Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, 730050, Lanzhou, China - ²Lanzhou Inspection and Quarantine Co., Ltd, No.1 of Yingmen village in Anning District of Lanzhou City of Gansu

Introduction: Cynomorium songaricum as a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) material, is generally used to cure impotence, premature ejaculation, kidney-yang deficiency, and spermatorrhea. Aim of this research is to study on vitro anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activities of C. songaricum extracts to found its potential in the future medicine and nutrition.

Materials and methods: Polysaccharides, saponins, flavonoids and tannins were extracted from Cynomorium songaricum by Ultrasonic assisted assistant. Anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activity of extracts were analyzed and compared by the method of ultra- violet spectrophotometry and MTT assay respectively.

Results: Conclusion demonstrated that ascorbic acid had the best hydroxyl radical-scavenging assay (scavenging rate was 94.14%), the mitomycin’s inhibition rate for cancer cell A549 was 59.31%, and its inhibition rate for cancer cell SMMC-7721 was 53.83%. Tannins had the highest reducing power assay(EC50=0.35) and DPPH radical-scavenging assay (IC50=0.0019) better than ascorbic acid, the highest hydroxyl radical-scavenging assay (46.44%) better than other extracts, and had the good inhibition action for cancer cell A549 (inhibition rate was 41.6%) and SMMC-7721 (inhibition rate was 13.1%). Flavonoids had good reducing power assay (EC50=0.38) and DPPH radical-scavenging assay (IC50=0.0028) which was only next to tannins, and had the best inhibition action for cancer cell A549 (inhibition rate is 45.7%) than other ectracts. Saponins had the highest inhibition action for cancer cell A549 (inhibition rate is 36.0%). Polysaccharides have good hydroxyl radical-scavenging rate (39.33%) which was only next to tan- nins.

Conclusion: Four extracts of C. songaricum showed good anti-oxidant activities and certain anti-tumor activities. Keywords: Cynomorium songaricum Rupr., Antioxidant activity, Anti-cancer activity.