Evaluation of Cytotoxic and Anti-Tumor Activities of Coscinium fenestratum Extract

Objective: To evaluate the anti tumor activity of Coscinium fenestratum extract under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Materials and Methods: The cytotoxic activity of C. fenestratum extract was tested on HeLa cells by MTT assay. The apoptosis-inducing activity of the extract was measured via mitochondtial membrane potential assay, acridine orange and ethidium bromide dual staining method, DNA fragmentation assay and caspase assay. The in vivo antitumor activity of the extract was tested against developed solid tumor in mammalian system. Results: The extract showed significant antiproliferative activity and is dose dependent. The extract treatment clearly showed an increasing number of apoptotic events both in HeLa cells and DLA cells and collapsed the mitochondrial membrane potential and these effects were higher than that of the positive control taxol. The cellular DNA was cleaved in to multiple fragments. Membrane blebbing and nuclear fragmentation was also observed after the extract treatment. C. fenestratum also triggered the release of mitochondrial cytochrome -c and activation of caspases 3 and 9 in HeLa cells, indicative of its apoptotic potential and was found to be highly effective in tumor regression. Conclusions: These finding suggested that the potential antitumor activity of C. fenestratum extract