Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Identification of the chemical components of ethanol extract of Chenopodium ambrosioides and evaluation of their in vitro antioxidant and anti-tumor activities

Jiao Li, Chaojin Si, Wenjing Hong, Chaoguo Xia, Yuqi Yang, Yiting He, Min Su, Xuehua Long, Hong Zhang

College of Life Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, China;

For correspondence:-

Accepted: 17 July 2022 Published: 29 August 2022

Citation: Li J, Si C, Hong W, Xia C, Yang Y, He Y, et al. Identification of the chemical components of ethanol extract of Chenopodium ambrosioides and evaluation of their in vitro antioxidant and anti-tumor activities. Trop J Pharm Res 2022; 21(8):1689-1697 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v21i8.16

© 2022 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To determine the characteristic chemical components of the ethanol extract of Chenopodium ambrosioides and evaluate their antioxidant and anti-tumor effects in vitro.

Methods: The plant powder (5 g) was extracted with 1 L of 80 % ethanol at room temperature for 45 min, and then placed at 60 ^oC at varying microwave power and duration to obtain optimal extraction conditions. Characteristic chemical components were detected using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). Kaempferitrin was isolated from the 80 % ethanol extract using a D101 macroporous resin column, and its content was assessed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The antioxidant effect of kaempferitrin was evaluated by its ability to scavenge 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) radicals, while its anti-proliferation activity in human liver cancer cells SMMC-7721 was determined using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) reagent.

Results: Three characteristic components of ethanol extract of C. ambrosioides were obtained, namely, kaempferitrin, kaempferol-3-O-apigenin-7-O-rhamnoside and kaempferol-3-O-acetylapigenin-7-O-rhamnoside. Kaempferitrin was shown to possess strong DPPH radical and moderate ABTS radical scavenging activities. Kaempferitrin significantly inhibited the proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells at doses of 4 and 8 µg/mL, with half-maximal concentration (IC₅₀) of 0.38 μM (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Kaempferitrin extracted from C. ambrosioides has antioxidant and anti-tumor activities. The results reported here indicate that C. ambrosioides may have potential use in herbal medicine practice.

Keywords: Antioxidant, Anti-tumor, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Kaempferitrin, UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS