title: Cytotoxicity of different extracts of arial parts of Ziziphus spina-christi on Hela and MDA-MB-468 tumor cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been shown that plants from the family Rhamnaceae possess anticancer activity. In this study, we sought to determine if Ziziphus spina-christi, a species from this family, has cytotoxic effect on cancer cell lines.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using maceration method, different extracts of leaves of Z. spina-christi were prepared. Hexane, chloroform, chloroform-methanol (9:1), methanol-water (7:1) methanol, butanol and water were used for extraction, after preliminary phytochemical analyses were done. The cytotoxic activity of the extracts against Hela and MDA-MB-468 tumor cells was evaluated by MTT assay. Briefly, cells were seeded in microplates and different concentrations of extracts were added. After incubation of cells for 72 h, their viability was evaluated by addition of tetrazolium salt solution. After 3 h medium was aspirated, dimethyl sulfoxide was added and absorbance was determined at 540 nm with an ELISA plate reader. Extracts were considered cytotoxic when more than 50% reduction on cell survival was observed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hexane, chloroform, chloroform-methanol, butanol, methanol-water and aqueous extracts of Z. spina-christi significantly and concentration-dependently reduced viability of Hela and MAD-MB-468 cells. In the both cell lines, chloroform-methanol extract of Z. spina-christi was more potent than the other extracts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From the finding of this study it can be concluded that Z. spina-christi is a good candidate for further study for new cytotoxic agents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jafarian
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zolfaghari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Kobra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirani
keywords: 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2; 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay; Cytotoxicity; Hela; MDA-MB-468; Ziziphus spina-christi