Screening of some Juniperus extracts for the phenolic compounds and their antiproliferative activities

In this study, the needle and cone of Juniperus species (Juniperus oxycedrus L. subsp. oxycedrus, J. foetidissima Willd., J. excelsa Bieb. and J. communis L.) that are commonly used in Turkish folk medicine were investigated in terms of their phenolic contents and antiproliferative activities. The phenolic constituents of the extracts were determined by HPLC-TOF/MS. Antiproliferative activities of the species were investigated between 5 and 100 μg/mL concentrations against human cervix carcinoma (HeLa) and rat brain tumor (C6) cell lines. Catechin and rutin were determined as the main phenolics of Juniperus species. Needle extracts exhibited better activities than cone extracts against HeLa and C6 cells. Needle of J. foetidissima exhibited high antiproliferative activities with an IC50 value of 10.65 against C6 cell lines. For HeLa cells, the highest antiproliferative activity was obtained with needle of J. communis with an IC50 value of 32.96. The results of the present study give a scientific basis to the traditional utilization of these Juniperus species, also demonstrating their potential as sources of natural anticancer compounds.