The anticancer, antioxidant activity and total phenolic concentration of Aloe ferox Mill. leaf extracts : peer reviewed original article
Aloe ferox is widely used in South Africa for its anti-inflammatory, laxative, antibacterial and antifungal activity. This study was done to screen A. ferox leaves for anticancer properties ,antioxidant activity and to determine its phenolic content in gallic acid equivalents (GAE). The sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay method was used to screen methanolic, and dichloromethane extracts against the MC7 (breast cancer), HCT116 (colon cancer) and PC3 (prostate cancer) cell lines for anticancer activity, using etoposide as the control. The stable radical 2, 2- diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was used to test the radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity of the plant extracts and compared to that of ascorbic acid. The Folin Ciocalteu method was used to determine the phenolic content of the methanol, dichloromethane and aqueous extracts against a gallic acid standard. The methanolic and dichloromethane A. ferox extracts showed inactivity against all the cancer cell lines with a TGI of more than 100 µg/ml. However, Aloe ferox extracts showed antioxidant capacity with an EC50 of 0.865 mg/ml and thus is a potential source of natural antioxidants. The methanol extract (5 mg/ml) of Aloe ferox had the highest polyphenolic content with a GAE of 0.726.