Cytotoxicity of hydro-alcoholic extracts of Cucurbita pepo and Solanum nigrum on HepG2 and CT26 cancer cell lines

Plants are used worldwide for the treatment of diseases, and novel drugs continue to be developed through research from plants. There are more than 20,000 species of plants used in traditional medicines, and these are all potential reservoirs for new drugs. Cucurbita pepo has been used in traditional folk medicine to treat cold and alleviate ache. Previous pharmacological tests have shown that it possesses antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects. Also, Solanum nigrum has been used as a diuretic and an antipyretic agent and it has also been used to cure inflammation, edema, mastitis and hepatic cancer. In this investigation, cytotoxicity of specific concentrations of hydro-alcoholic extracts of C. pepo and S. nigrum was studied on normal [Chinese hamster ovarian cells (CHO) and rat fibroblast] and cancer (HepG2 and CT26) cell lines. The cytotoxic effects and IC(50) of the extracts on the selected cell lines were studied followed by colonogenic assay method. The results showed that IC(50) of S. nigrum extract was significantly lower than that of the C. pepo extract on all four cell lines (P < 0.05). On the other hand, IC(50) of S. nigrum extract was significantly higher than the extract of Taxus baccata and Cisplatin, herbal and chemical control positive anticancer compounds, respectively, on all four cell lines (P < 0.05). As a result, it is concluded that the extract of S. nigrum has almost similar cytotoxicity to the extract of T. baccata on cancer cells.