Cytotoxic efficiency of pulsed electric field treated Plectranthus amboinicus leaf extract on lung (A549) cancer cell lines

Abstract

In a controlled environment, cytotoxicity of Plectranthus amboinicus leaves against a humanoid lung malignant cell lines were surveyed(A549). The Bioactive substances contained in leaf extract were determined using a qualitative screening method. Quantification of bioactive substances such as phenol, flavonoids, and anticancer activities was performed. The ethanolic leaf extracts were extracted using the Soxhlet method and then exposed to an electric pulse treatment (PEF) using a Multiporator with an E field ranging from 200 to 2.5kV/cm, a constant pulse interval of 100ms, and a constant pulse length of 100s. The electrical pulse impact on anticancer and action of phenol in leaf was evaluated in comparison to untreated extract. The phenolic activity was assessed using the Folin-Ciocalteu’s technique, whereas flavonoid activity was determined using the Aluminum chloride method, with PEF treated extracts exhibiting enhanced phenolic activity. This study used an electric field of 1kV/cm, a pulse duration of 100 seconds, and eight pulses. After 24 hours of treatment, the viability of A549 cell lines exposed to varied concentrations of PEF treated extract was evaluated using the MTT test. With 0.001μg/ml, maximum cell viability was 81 percent (minimum cell death was 18 percent), while with 100μg/ml, minimum cell viability was 26 percent (highest cell death was 73 percent). Cell death is 73 percent for PEF treated samples with a concentration of 100μg/ml, and 69 percent for untreated samples with a concentration of 250μg/ml. We can deduct from this that the PEF-treated P.amboinicus extract is a good anticancer agent since it causes more cell death than the untreated extract.