Cytotoxicity and antimicrobial assessment of Euphorbia hebecarpa

Euphorbiaceae is a family of plant spread in all parts of the world except very cold regions. The genus Euphorbia consists of over eighty-two species grown wildly in Iran. Some of Euphorbia species are used in the treatment cancer and tumors in different countries. The genus Euphorbia has been the source of a large number of biological active compounds. In this study petroleum ether, ether, ethylacetate and methanolic extracts of the whole aerial parts of E. hebecarpa were examined for antimicrobial, brine shrimp toxicity and cytotoxicity activities. Antimicrobial activity was performed by disc diffusion method on two Gram positive and two Gram negative and two fungus species. Biologic activity of all of the extracts were studied using Artemia salina (brine shrimp) and the most cytotoxic extract were examined on five different cell lines using MTT colorimetric assay. All of the extracts showed low antimicrobial activity. Results of the biological activity of the extracts on Brine shrimp showed that the most toxicity was related to metanolic extract of E. hebecarpa. The metanolic extract of E. hebecarpa did not show any activity against KB cell line in all concentrations. At 100 µg/ml, it was active against K562, U937 and Fen cell lines and inhibited 66.3%, 56.1% and 51.0% of cell line proliferation, respectively. Euphorbia species are a source of natural bioactive compounds, which are active against some tumor cell lines.