Mohammadi Ma,*, Majd Ab, Nejadsattari Ta and Hashemi Mc
aDepartment of Plant Science, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Science and Research Campus, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
bDepartment of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
cDepartment of Genetics, Tehran Medical Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Pharmacognosy Communications,2014,4,4,48-58.
DOI:10.5530/pc.2014.4.5
Published:September 2014
Type:Research Article
ABSTRACT
Background: Plants used in folk and traditional medicines have been accepted as therapeutic drug development in modern medicine. Although many studies have been focused on Lamiaceae family, few studies on medical effects of purple basil have been performed until now. Objective: Ocimum basilicum cv. dark opal was chosen for this study as it has been used in Persian traditional medicine and many Iranian dishes. It was considered important to determine the cytotoxicity effect and the reductive capacity of the purple basil oils and extracts, as this may indicate their potential as antioxidants. Materials and Methods: The reducing power activity of both essential oils of the leaves (before flowering) and the seeds and also methanolic extracts of roots and aerial parts (stem-leaf) (collected prior flowering), and flowers were determined by utilizing of FRAP. Also the MTT assay has been used in order to consider in vitro cytotoxicity of essential oils and extracts on cancerous cell line (MCF-7). Moreover, the extracts were analyzed by HPLC todetermine the levels of some phenolic compounds. Results: The purple basil extracts have more powerful antioxidant activity than the essential oils. The MCF-7 cell proliferation was significantly inhibited compared with the controls, and the oils were found to be more effective than the extracts. The phytochemical analysis of the extracts has led to the identification of 3 phenolic. Conclusion: Our study, partially validates the traditional use of this medicinal herb as complementary and alternative medicine.
Keywords: Purple basil, antioxidant, MCF-7, HPLC.