Abstract

Background: Turmeric (Hurud) is one of the cultivated medical plants in Yemen in various geographical areas mountainous highlands such as Mohaweet, where the plant of this study was collected. This plant is used in alternative medicine in Yemen as preparation for skin cosmetics. This study was designed to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidant and anticancer activities of Yemeni Curcuma fractions against two human cancer cell lines were used (A431 skin cancer and A549 lung cancer cell line).

Methods: Tumeric fractions were tested for their chemical analysis using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Spectral analysis (Ultra violate analysis).

The antioxidant activity of all selected extracts was evaluated by DPPH and FBAAC methods. The cytotoxicity of the fractions was determined on two human cancer cell lines were used (A431 skin cancer and A549 lung cancer cell line). and noncancerous using the tetrazolium-based colorimetric (MTT) assay. Vinblastine, a broad-spectrum anticancer drug was used as a positive control to assess the cytotoxic activity of extract and oils. The potential mechanism of action of the active fractions was apoptosis.

Results: The cells viability results of this study showed that the use of ethyl acetate fraction of local cultivated Yemeni Curcuma longa extract has high activity on the viability of A431skin cancer and A 549 lung cancer cell line compared with untreated cells and the activity was high whenever the concentration is high, followed by acetone extract, whereas crude turmeric had the lowest activity. The morphological examination using crystal violates stain results in an adverse relationship between the extract concentration and the number of cancer cells compared with control.

Conclusion: based on their good antioxidant, the ethyl acetate, acetone, and aqueous Turmeric fractions represent the promising alternative natural origin of compounds effective against lung and skin cancer.