Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, antimicrobial, anticancer and antioxidant activities of n-hexane and methylene chloride extracts of Senna italica

Abstract

The current study was aimed to investigate the antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant activities of the n-hexane and methylene chloride extracts from Senna italica as well as the characterization of their chemical constituents via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis (GC-MS). The results revealed that the n-hexane extract showed weak antimicrobial activity with inhibition zones were ranged from 3.8 to 7mm, and the methylene chloride extract showed a potent antimicrobial activity with inhibition zones were ranged from 4.2 to 18mm compared to five standard antibiotics. Also, according to the criteria of the American National Cancer Institute (USNCI), the n-hexane showed weak anticancer activity with IC50 equal to 81.6±4.1, 73.0±3.90, 66.8±3.12, and 92.8±4.82 μg/ml, while the methylene chloride exhibited a potent anticancer activity with IC50 of 16.9±1.30, 17.4±1.36, 18.3±1.59, and 14.2±1.18μg/ml, compared to 5-fluorouracil with IC50 of 7.9±0.28, 4.8±0.21, 8.3±0.35, and 5.4±0.20, all respectively for HePG-2, Hela, PC3, and MCF-7 tumor cell lines. The activity against ABTS radical was recorded with the methylene chloride (% inhibition= 86.3%), compared to ascorbic acid with 89.2%. Moreover, GC-MS analysis revealed that the major constituents of the n-hexane were n-hexadecanoic acid (30%), (Z,Z,Z)9,12,15-octadecadienoic acid (21%), vitamin E (7.32%), and for methylene chloride were 3-methyl-4-oxopentanoic acid (16.36%), (E)-stilbene (11.86%), and 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (10.70%).