Cytotoxic and Hepatotoxic Activities

The extracts cytotoxicity was evaluated by the sulforhodamine B (from Sigma-Aldrich) assay against five human tumour cell lines (acquired from Leibniz-Institut DSMZ): metastatic melanoma (MM127), breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), non-small cell lung carcinoma (NCI-H460), cervical carcinoma (HeLa), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2), as previously described [34]. The same assay was also used to evaluate the extracts hepatotoxicity against a non-tumour cell line (porcine liver primary cells, PLP2) [35]. Ellipticine was used as positive control. The results were expressed in GI50 values (μg/mL), i.e., extract concentration providing 50% of cell growth inhibition.
