A Toxicological and Phytochemical Study on the Iran’s Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Rich.

Background: Ecballium elaterium is endemic to the northwestern Iran and its fruit is traditionally used for therapeutic purposes in Iran. The toxicological and phytochemical characteristics of the Iran’s Ecballium elaterium have not been investigated so far. Objective: Study on some toxicological and phytochemical features of the Iran’s Ecballium elaterium fruit 90% ethanol extract. Method: The antioxidant capacity in the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay and total phenol and flavonoid contents were determined by spectrophotometry. The rutin (phytomyelin) content was measured by HPLC. Moreover, oral and intra-peritoneal LD50 (median lethal dose) after 72 hours of the extract administration in rat were determined by the graphical method of Miller and Tainter. The cytotoxicity against several cancer and non-cancer cell lines was determined by the MTT (mitochondrial tetrazolium) method.      Results: The IC50 (inhibitory concentration 50%) in the DPPH assay was 3.57±0.006 mg/mL. The total phenol in terms of mg Gallic acid/0.05 g extract was 17.84±0.92. The total flavonoid in terms of mg rutin/0.1 g extract was 33.35 ± 1.06. The extract contained 1 mg/g rutin. The oral and intra-peritoneal LD50 of the extract were 472 mg/kg and 425 mg/kg respectively. The extract showed strong cytotoxicity in ACHN and ASPC1 cell lines, which was followed by Caco2 and PC12 cells. Non-neoplastic cells were much less affected by the extract in comparison with the cancerous cells. Conclusion: The extract has low antioxidant activity. The oral and intra-peritoneal toxicities of the extract in the LD50 test are moderate. The extract has considerable selective toxicity against cancer cells.