Salvia judaica is an annual herb from genus Salvia L.; the largest genera of Lamiaceae. It’s a medicinal plant prominent in pharmaceutical applications in many countries around the world.
This study aimed to explore bioactive compounds likely to be responsible for the plant anticancer activity, and evaluate anticancer effects, after determining the total content of phenols in the ethanol extract and essential oil in this species.
Ethanol extract (EE) and essential oil (EO) were prepared from dried aerial parts (leaves and the flower).
GC-MS analysis of EO showed the presence of/43/ effective compounds in varying proportions, the major compounds were sesquiterpenes like delta-cadinene, alpha-Gurjunene, beta-humulene, and alpha-caryophyllene.
This is the first study revealed that S.judaica is so rich in phenols which proceeded S.officinalis, noting the superiority of the EE over the EO samples in the total phenols.
Anticancer properties of EE and EO of S. judaica against MDA-231 breast cancer cell line were studied -for the first time – by cell cycle analysis and Annexin V/PI apoptosis assay using Flow cytometry technique. Cells were treated with EE (0.001, 0.01, 0.02, 0.1mg/ml) and EO (0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 mg/ml) at various concentrations for48h.
The results revealed that both EE and EO induced cell cycle arrest at G1-phase.
Cells treated with EE and EO for 48h showed increasing the percentage of cells in G1-phase and decreasing the percentage of cells in S-phase with increasing concentration compared with untreated cells (control).
Annexin V-FITC/PI assay confirmed that EO and EE were able to induce apoptosis. Cells treated with EOat (0.04 mg/ml) for 48h resulted in apoptotic cells at 96.68%, and necrotic cells at 0.12%, compared with untreated cells. On the other hand, Cells treated with EE at (0.1 mg/ml) for 48h resulted in apoptotic cells at 94.43%, and necrotic cells at 0.47%, compared with control.
Results revealed that EO is better than EE as anticancer; treatment with EO resulted in more apoptotic cells and less necrotic cells, and there were significant differences between them. This confirmed that EO contains specific anticancer compounds as showed by GC-MS analysis.
However, more studies should be performed to explore antioxidants present in S.judaica and determine the underlying mechanism of their anti-breast cancer properties.
Salvia Judaica, Total Phenols, GC-MS, Breast Cancer, Cellular Cycle, Apoptosis.