Cytotoxic and Apoptotic Effects of Ornithogalum cuspidatum Methanolic Extract on WEHI-164 Fibrosarcoma Cancer Cell Line

Ornithogalum cuspidatum is one of the medicinal plants that has been used in Iranian traditional medicine as treatment for respiratory and inflammatory diseaes. Previous studies on other Ornithogalum species showed that thay have anti-cancer and cytotoxic activities. However, the exact mechanism has not yet been determind. In present study, the growth inhibitory and apoptotic effects of methanolic extract of Ornithogalum cuspidatum (MEOC) on WEHI-164 fibrosarcoma cell line, a type of soft tissue cancer, were evaluated. MTT assay was used for measuring the cytotoxicity and cell viability at 6, 12 and 24 hours and in different concentrations of MEOC. Also, ELISA was used to measure apoptosis after 12 hours in different concentrations of MEOC. The results showed that MECO had growth inhibitory and cytotoxic activities on WEHI-164 cell line, in three mentioned times. The MECO changed morphology of WEHI-164 cell lines in to apoptotic cells. Increasing extract concentration and time caused decreased in cell viability. MEOC caused induction of apoptosis in WEHI-164 cell line. In general, these effects depends on the concentration of MEOC (P< 0.01).