Nutrient Composition and In Vitro Anti-carcinogenic Activity of Knotweed (Polygonum cognatum Meissn.) Plant Extracts

Various parts of the plants are passed through simple processes and used etno-pharmacologically in folk medicine for treatment of several diseases. Considering the great genetic diversity in plant species worldwide, scientific data about biological effects and impact mechanism of majority of plant extracts are still not sufficient and the interest in pharmaceutical use of plant extracts is continuously increasing. Knotweed (Polygonum cognatum Meissn.) is a perennial herbaceous plant of Polygonaceae family. It commonly grows over the road and field sides especially in Central Anatolia. This study was conducted to determine nutrient concentrations and in vitro anticarcinogenic activity of knotweed plants collected from Sivas province were determined. Knotweed is already used in folk medicine of the province for treatment of various diseases and consumed largely in season for nutritional purposes. Cytotoxic effects of knotweed plants were assessed through mammary cancer cell line (MCF-7) and the effects on healthy cells were compared by using human epithelia cells (HUVEC) . Cell proliferation tests were conducted spectrophotometrically at 450-500 nm by using ETT kit. Nutrient concentrations of knotweed plants were determined as follows: 3.5% N, 0.259% P, 3.9% K, 0.51% Ca, 0.44% Mg, 144.7 mg/kg Fe, 40.3 mg/kg Zn, 30.1 mg/kg Mn and 7.5 mg/kg Cu. While knotweed plants did not have any cytotoxic impacts on human healthy epithelial cells, they had strong cytotoxic impacts on MCF-7 cells. On the other hand, in-cell antioxidant effects of the plants were also observed