Chemical study, antimalarial and antioxidant activities, and cytotoxicity to human breast cancer cells (MCF7) of Argania spinosa

IntroductionIn our work, we evaluate the potential antioxidant, antimalarial activity and also activity against human breast cancer cells (MCF7) of Argan fruit extracts using in vitro models to validate the traditional use of this plant. Its chemical composition was also studied to begin the understanding of its activities, waiting to find the structure-activity relationship.ResultsPolyphenols (89.4–218.5 eqGallic acid (mg/g dry)), tannins (39.3–214.0 eqCatechin (mg/g dry)), flavonoids (3.4–11.1 eqQuercetin (mg/g dry)) and anthocyanins (0.74–10.92 eqCyanindin (μg/g dry)) were quantified. A good (ethyl acetate and decoction) and moderate (petroleum ether) antioxidant activity were obtained for DPPH (IC50 32.3–600.8 μg/ml) and ABTS (IC50 11.9–988.8 μg/ml) assays. In addition, we found a good antimalarial activity (IC50 35 to >100 μg/ml) and human breast cancer cells activity (IC50 42 to >100 μg/ml).ConclusionsThe ethyl acetate extract and the decoction show interesting antimalarial and antioxidant activities. The results indicate a good correlations between anthocyanins quantitiy and the potential antioxidant (R2=0.9867) and also to antimalarial activity (R2=0.8175).