Investigation of antioxidant, enzyme inhibition and antiproliferative activities of blackthorn (Prunus spinosa L.) extracts

Abstract

Natural products have a key role for drug discovery in pharmacology and medicine. Prunus spinosa L. (blackthorn) grown in Çanakkale province in western Turkey, is known as a medicinal plant, a rich source of biologically active compounds such as phenolics, flavonoids and anthocyanidins. The flower and fruit extracts of the plant are subjects of many studies, but they usually lack details of its potential for bio-inhibition studies. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the antioxidant, enzyme inhibition and antiproliferative activity studies of the methanol, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, and n-hexane extracts of the plant. The ethyl acetate and methanol extracts showed better antioxidant activity with DPPH, FRAP, CUPRAC, and TEAC assays. Enzyme inhibition studies of the extracts were performed using β-lactamase, proteases and tyrosinase. The methanol (FL) and ethyl acetate (FL and L) extracts at the concentration of 10 mg/mL, displayed better inhibition against α-chymotrypsin, trypsin, and papain with values of 22.6%, 34.7% and 92.1%, respectively. Furthermore, the methanol and ethyl acetate extracts have displayed higher cytotoxic effect against cancer cells such as Hep3B and HT29 compared to healthy cells (HUVEC) using MTT assay. The findings suggest that P. spinosa L. extracts and their components may be potential for further investigations of novel drug candidates from natural sources.