Mutagenic effect, antioxidant and anticancer activities of six medicinal plants from Burkina Faso

The antiproliferative activities of six medicinal plant extracts from Burkina Faso were evaluated in order to justify their traditional use for the treatment of cancer. The SOS chromotest method was used in vitro on Escherichia coli PQ37 to evaluate the mutagenic effect of the plant extracts. The DPPH method was used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of each plant. The antiproliferative activity was evaluated by MTS method on normal cells (Vero and MCR5) and cancer cells (KB) in contact with the extracts for 72 h. The results showed that the studied plants are not genotoxic. Lantana ukambensis and Acacia macrostachya induced a very significant antiproliferative effect against cancer cells with 94% and 95%, respectively. They also developed a strong antioxidant activity. The IC 50 values were 5.96±0.40 μg mL -1 for L. ukambensis and 4.30±0.26 μg mL -1 for A. macrostachya. These two plants are therefore potential sources for isolating new antioxidant and anticancer molecules. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.