Biological Evaluation of Mercurialis annua Extracts for Possible Antioxidant, Antiproliferative and Cytotoxic Activity

Background: Mercurialis annua has been traditionally used by native people for its diuretic, laxative, antiemetic and antioxidant activity in addition to its usefulness in the treatment of warts, eye problems and microbial infections. Aim: The goal of this work is to study the different extracts of aerial parts of Mercurialis annua collected from the Jordan territories and test them for possible antioxidant, cytotoxic and antiangiogenic activities. Materials and Methods: One kilogram of the dried powdered aerial parts of M. annua, was extracted by maceration with n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol (96%), respectively. Flavonoids were detected and identified by UV spectrophotometer, TLC, NMR, Mass, and melting point in comparison with the standard. The brine-Shrimp cytotoxicity /Lethality test was performed to measure the LC50 for all M. annua extracts, using Colchicine and chloroform as positive control and negative control, respectively. Both the ethanolic extract and ethyl acetate extract of M. annua were tested for DPPH radical scavenging activity (antioxidant activity). The ethanol extract was evaluated for possible antiproliferative activities against human leukemia (K562), breast cancer (MCF-7), cervical cancer (Hela), lung cancer (A562), and fibroblast cell lines. All the three extracts from M. annua were also evaluated for possible antiangiogenic activity using the ex vivo Rat Aortic assay. Results: The ethanolic extract has shown mild cytotoxic activity, especially on the MCF-7 breast cell lines as compared to ethyl acetate and hexane extract. In addition, the ethanolic extract resulted in the highest radical scavenging activity (61.3% inhibition), while all extracts have shown negligible antiangiogenic activities. Conclusion: The study shows that the ethanolic extract of Mercurialis annua from Jordan could serve as a possible source for developing anticancer and antioxidant drugs in the future.