In vitro Cytotoxicity and Antioxidation of a Whole Fruit Extract of Liquidambar formosana Exerted by Different Constituents

Aims: The fruit of Liquidambar formosana Hance under the name of Lu Lu Tong (LLT) has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine in China for thousands of years. This study was undertaken to attempt to illustrate some of the pharmacological effects by screening for its cytotoxic and antioxidant activities with in vitro assays.

Methodology: LLT extract was initially prepared with 95% aqueous ethanol, and then fractionated based on solvent polarity into three fractions of petroleum ether (LLT-P), dichloromethane (LLT-C), and methanol (LLT-M). human colon adenocarcinoma Cells HT-29 cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium were treated with LLT extracts in the concentration range of 0.39 µg/mL and 100 µg/mL and assayed by MTS. The antioxidant activities of each LLT fraction was reacted with a stable free radical of DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS•+ (2, 20-azino-bis (3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diamonium salt). Major constituents of three fractions were analyzed by UPLC-MS.

Results: Among the three fractions, LLT-M exhibited a strong antioxidant activity but the others had minimal or negligible effects. In contrast, the potent antioxidant fraction (LLT-M) showed essentially no cytotoxicity whereas the two fractions, LLT-P and LLT-C, were significantly cytotoxic.

Conclusion: Cytotoxicity and Antioxidant properties exhibited by LLT came from different constituents residing in different fractions of solvent affinity.