Aqueous ethanol extract of Libidibia ferrea (Mart. Ex Tul) L.P. Queiroz (juca) exhibits antioxidant and migration-inhibiting activity in human gastric adenocarcinoma (ACP02) cells

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 17;15(1):e0226979. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226979. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Libidibia ferrea (juca) is a plant belonging to the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family, whose antioxidant activity has been widely described in the literature. We evaluated this parameter of Aqueous ethanol extract (AE), ethyl acetate (ACO), chloroform (CLO) and hexane (HEX) extracts of L. ferrea. We then tested the most active extract for its toxicity and ability to inhibit migratory activity in the ACP02 gastric adenocarcinoma cell line in vitro. The AE and ACO extracts both had antioxidant activity, the AE extract showing greater potential. This may reflect that both extracts contained phenolic compounds. Although AE extract showed no cytotoxic, mutagenic or genotoxic effect, it altered cell morphology and migration activity. Analysis of apoptosis/necrosis indicated that this parameter does not appear to account for the apparent ability of AE to inhibit cancer cell migration. We speculate that the morphological changes in AE-treated cells could be due to cytoskeleton alterations related to the presence of myo-inositol in AE extract. Together, our results demonstrate this extract of L. ferrea can act as an exogenous antioxidant and might prove useful in efforts to fight secondary tumors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenocarcinoma / drug therapy
  • Antineoplastic Agents / isolation & purification*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Antioxidants / isolation & purification*
  • Antioxidants / pharmacology
  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Caesalpinia / chemistry*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Movement / drug effects*
  • Ethanol
  • Humans
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology*
  • Solvents / chemistry
  • Stomach Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / pathology

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Antioxidants
  • Plant Extracts
  • Solvents
  • Ethanol

Grants and funding

JCP received the grant 047/2012 from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (https://www.capes.gov.br) and 2.318.697.0001 from Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (http://www.bndes.gov.br). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.