Antiproliferative effect of methanolic extract of Tamarindus indica in C127I cell line

Abstract

Investigation of natural bioactive compounds that possess antioxidant and anticancer properties have drawn interest in scientific and industrial perspectives. The current study was conducted to assess the antiproliferative action of methanolic extract of seed coat of Tamarindus indica in C127I mouse mammary tumour cell line. 3-(4,5-dimethyl thazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay is performed to assess the cytotoxicity of methanolic extracts of T. indica in the C127I cell line at concentrations of 320, 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 µg/mL. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was then calculated using Graph Pad Prism 5.0. Doxorubicin was used as positive control. After determining IC50, the cells were treated with extract of T. indica at half, IC50 and double IC50 concentrations after being seeded at a concentration of 1x105 cells/mL in 6 well plates. After 24 hours the cells were trypsinised and stained with acridine orange-ethidium bromide (AOEB) to assess the morphology of apoptosis. When the cells were exposed to various doses of the extract, a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability was observed, and the IC50 value of T. indica was estimated to be 13 µg/ml. In the control cells, AO/EB labelling revealed proliferating cells with green fluorescence, but the T. indica extract-treated cells displayed dose dependent shift from orange to red fluorescence. In conclusion, methanolic extract of Tamarindus indica was found to possess antiproliferative effect in C127I cell line comparable to doxorubicin.