Investigating apoptotic effects of different extracts of medicinal plants on SH-SY5Y cells

Introduction: Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, occurs naturally during development and has recently gained attention as an important factor in central nervous system disease and injury. Aim: The present study was aimed to investigate the apoptotic effects of the different extracts of Hydrocotyle javanica (HJ) and Peristrophe bicalyculata (PB) on SH-SY5Y Neuroblastoma cells. Methods and Materials: The different extracts of HJ and PB were obtained by soxhlation process with petroleum ether, n-hexane, chloroform, alcohol, and water as menstrual. Phytochemical screening was performed for the different extracts of medicinal plants. MTT assay was used to assess the cytotoxicity of the plant extracts, then the induction of apoptosis on SHSY5Y cells by different extracts of HJ and PB was validated by DNA fragmentation analysis using gel electrophoresis technique. Results and Discussion: The DNA bands obtained from different extracts of both medicinal plants produced a ladder pattern, as observed from Lane 3 to 10. A ladder formation was used to indicate that the DNA has undergone fragmentation and each fragment corresponded to a band in the ladder. Alcoholic extract of PB showed the fragmentation of DNA at the lowest concentration when compared with other extracts which indicate the potential apoptotic activity at 10 μg/ml. Conclusion: According to our findings, Our data well established the antiproliferative effect of different extracts of medicinal plants and clearly showed that the plant extracts can induce apoptosis and not necrosis in vitro.