Abstract
Plants are potential source of pharmaceutically active compounds. Most of the medicinal herbs are threatened due to over exploitation and also the destruction of their natural habitats. Plant cell culture is an alternative means not only for the elucidation of the lead molecules but also important as an ex situ conservation of the natural resources. Marchantia linearis Lehm & Lindenb. was commonly used in folklore medicine by tribals for curing many diseases. The major objectives of the present study are (i) establishment of cell suspension culture, (ii) elucidation of flavonoids and its fractionation and (iii) analysis of anticancer potentialities against SW 480 colon cancer cell lines in terms of antiproliferation (MTT assay), cell apoptosis, cell cycle and growth kinetics, activities of quinone reductase (QR), glutatione-S- transferase, (GST) and cytochrome P450 (CYP 2E1) correlated with reduced glutathione content (GSH) and lipid peroxidation (LPX). In vitro cell suspension culture of M. linearis yielded remarkable levels of flavonoids. Apigenin, quercetin and luteolin are the major flavonoids identified by RP-HPLC- PAD analysis. Significant decline in proliferation, cell cycle and increased apoptosis in SW 480 cells were noticed. Results of MTT assay showed that 50 µg/mL of flavonoid remarkably reduced growth kinetics of cells coupled with induced cell apoptosis. The xenobiotic metabolic enzyme CYP 2A1 showed a marginal decrease whereas, QR and GST revealed increased activities. Caspase 3/7, 2, 6, 8 and 9 showed significant level of expressions. The results are statistically significant (p < 0.05). The assay data was further supported by the level of GSH and LPX levels. The present results suggest a positive correlation between flavonoids and their antimetastatic effects. Purification of the principle lead compound and animal studies are warranted to further establish the results.
