Antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity of eight plants used in traditional Arab medicine in Israel.
Ethnopharmacological surveys conducted among herbal practitioners of traditional Arab medicine in Israel and the Palestinian area have revealed a large number of indigenous plant species are used as sources of their herbal therapies. Some of these herbal therapies are used to treat liver disease, jaundice or diabetes, conditions in which oxidative stress is prominent. No laboratory data on the bioactivity of herbal medicines in these settings exist in traditional Arab medicine. We hypothesized that the beneficial effect of these plants might be due to their antioxidant properties. Accordingly, we selected eight plants used to treat these two conditions and assessed their antioxidant potential by measuring their ability to suppress the extent of iron-induced lipid peroxidation in rat liver homogenates and their potential toxicity by evaluating their effects on mitochondrial respiration and cell membrane integrity in cultured PC12 and HepG2 cells. We found that all the extracts can suppress iron-induced lipid peroxidation and are not toxic. Of these extracts, those prepared from Teucrium polium and Pistacia lentiscus were the most effective in suppressing iron-induced lipid peroxidation. Further investigations are now needed to establish the exact mechanism of action and identify the active bio-ingredient(s) of each extract in order to explain their therapeutic efficacy.
Ljubuncic
Predrag
P
Department of Pharmacology, Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 9649, 31096 Haifa, Israel.
Azaizeh
Hassan
H
Portnaya
Irina
I
Cogan
Uri
U
Said
Omar
O
Saleh
Khalid Abu
KA
Bomzon
Arieh
A
D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001083:Arabia; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects; D019069:Cell Respiration / Q000187:drug effects; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D007557:Israel; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D016716:PC12 Cells; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D000975:Antioxidants; D010936:Plant Extracts; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; D007501:Iron; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; C022616:thiazolyl blue