CYTOTOXICITY SCREENING AND ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY ASSESSMENT OF THE INNER PERIANTH SEGMENTS OF 14 RUMEX SPECIES GROWN IN TÜRKİYE

Objective: Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancer types worldwide. Antioxidant sources may prevent the occurrence of cancer. Natural sources rich in phenolics, thus, may provide alternate agents in the management of breast cancer. Rumex species are widely distributed in Turkish flora. Emerging evidence has pointed out the antitumoral property of Rumex species on a variety of cancer cells. In the present study, we propose to test the ethanolic extracts of the inner perianth segments of 14 Rumex species on four breast cancer cells with different origins. We also demonstrated their toxicity on healthy cells. Material and Method: We performed the resazurin reduction assay to examine the cytotoxicity and toxicity. Furthermore, we determined the phenolic contents of the extracts as an indicator of their antioxidant profile and ascertained their antioxidant activities by DPPH radical, ABTS radical cation scavenging activity and cupric ion-reducing antioxidant capacity assays. Result and Discussion: The ethanolic extracts of the inner perianth segments of Rumex species exhibited remarkable cytotoxicity profiles neither on breast cancer cells nor on healthy H9c2 rat myoblastoma cells. However, they usually displayed strong antioxidant activities due to possessing high phenolic content.