Cytotoxic effect of Ginkgo biloba kernel extract on HCT116 and A2058 cancer cell lines

Yana Feodorova; Teodora Tomova; Danail Minchev; Valentin Turiyski; Marian Draganov; Mariana Argirova

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04941

Cytotoxic effect of Ginkgo biloba kernel extract on HCT116 and A2058 cancer cell lines

Heliyon. 2020 Sep 19;6(9):e04941. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04941. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Authors

Yana Feodorova^{1

2}, Teodora Tomova³, Danail Minchev^{1

2}, Valentin Turiyski⁴, Marian Draganov¹, Mariana Argirova³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 15A Vasil Aprilov Blvd, Plovdiv, 4000, Bulgaria.
² Division of Molecular and Regenerative Medicine, Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv, 15A Vasil Aprilov Blvd, Plovdiv, 4000, Bulgaria.
³ Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Plovdiv, 15A Vasil Aprilov Blvd, Plovdiv, 4000, Bulgaria.
⁴ Department of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Plovdiv, 15A Vasil Aprilov Blvd, Plovdiv, 4000, Bulgaria.

Abstract

While the pharmacology of Ginkgo biloba leaf extract has been studied extensively, little is known about the pharmacological potential of Ginkgo biloba seeds, although they contain similar active ingredients that are responsible for the therapeutic effects of the leaf extract. In this study we used 70%-methanol Ginkgo biloba kernel extract, quantified its bioactive constituents and tested their cytotoxic effect on two cancer cell lines, A2058 and HCT116, and the non-tumor cell line McCoy-Plovdiv. We studied the biological effect of the extract by real-time analysis in the xCELLigence system, WST-1 assay and LIVE/DEAD viability assay. We show that the extract significantly perturbed the viability of cancer cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. In contrast, non-cancerous McCoy-Plovdiv cells sustained their proliferation potential even at high concentrations of the extract. Therefore, we propose that the active constituents of the Ginkgo biloba endosperm extract may interact additively or synergistically to protect against cancer.

Keywords: Alternative medicine; Anti-cancer effect; Cell biology; Cell culture; Cytotoxicity; Electric impedance; Food analysis; Ginkgo biloba kernel extract; Natural product chemistry; Pharmaceutical science.