Lawsonia Inermis: Its Anatomy and its Antimalarial, Antioxidant and Human Breast Cancer Cells MCF7 Activities

Abstract

Anatomical features were highlighted to improve its identification, because although henna has some benefits, it has a wide spectrum of adverse effects from contact dermatitis to severe angioneurotic oedema and haemolysis. Serial extractions in petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, ethanol and water were performed on leaves of Lawsonia inermis and were studied. In these extracts, different chemical families were measured such as polyphenols (Gallic acid equivalent 71.7-129.6 g/Kg), tannins (Catechin equivalent 31.3-477.9 g/Kg), antocyanins (Cyanidin equivalent 0.75-5.48 mg/Kg) and flavonoids (Quercetin equivalent 16.2-85.6 g/Kg). This present study reports ABTS/DPPH assay and antimalarial activity. We also checked activity against human breast cancer cells MCF7. The best extract with an antioxidant activity (IC50=6.9 ± 0.1 mg/L) was obtained by ethanol. We found an antimalarial activity of the petroleum ether extract (27 mg/L) of henna. Henna extracts showed activity against human breast cancer cells (MCF7) with the ethyl acetate extract (27 mg/L) and petroleum extract (22 mg/L).