Antioxidant Activities of Artemisia Absinthium and Citrus Paradisi Extracts Repress Viability of Aggressive Liver Cancer Cell Line

Abstract Numerous reports show that herbal medicines can be utilized in the treatment of different liver disorders. In this study, antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer activities of individual as well as combined ethanolic extracts of Artemisia absinthium leaves and Citrus paradisi peels were investigated. Values of total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), DPPH-radical scavenging activity, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were measured to explore the antioxidant capacity. To assess antibacterial activity, four bacterial strains were used. For evaluation of anticancer activity Huh-7 (liver cancer) and Vero (non-cancerous) cell lines were utilized. FRAP activity of combined plants extract was higher as compared to their individual effect; the trend did not hold in case of DPPH-radical scavenging activity. Disk diffusion method revealed that only combined extract of plants express antibacterial activity against one strain (E. coli). MTT results indicated that both plants have cytotoxic effect on Huh-7 cell line and did not show any effect on Vero cell line. Our data showed a strong negative correlation between the amount of TPC, TFC, & DPPH radicals-scavenging activity and cell viability of cancerous cell line. Whereas, no effect was shown on non-cancerous cell line. Hence, these plants can be used in treatment of liver cancer because of their antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer activities.