Antioxidant and Anticancer Activities of Ocimum basilicum L. cv. Dark Opal (Lamiaceae)

Background: Plants used in folk and traditional medicines have been accepted as therapeutic drug development in modern medicine.Although manystudies have been focused on Lamiaceae family,few studies on medical effects of purple basil have been performed until now. Objective: Ocimum basilicum cv. dark opal was chosen for this study as it has been used in Persian traditional medicine and many Iranian dishes. It was considered important to determine the cytotoxicity effect andthe reductive capacity of the purple basil oils and extracts, as this may indicate their potential as antioxidants. Materials and Methods: The reducing power activity of both essential oils of the leaves (before flowering) and the seeds and also methanolic extracts of roots and aerial parts (stem-leaf) (collected prior flowering), and flowers were determined by utilizing of FRAP. Also the MTT assay has been used in order to consider in vitro cytotoxicity of essential oils and extracts on cancerous cell line (MCF-7). Moreover, the extracts were analyzed by HPLC to comprise the rate of some phenolic compounds. Results: The purple basil extracts have more powerful antioxidant activity than the essential oils. MCF-7 revealed to have a meaningful cell death when compared with controls, and the oils were found to be more effective than the extracts. Also the phytochemical analysis of the extracts has led to the identification of 3 phenolic compounds (Rosmarinic acid, p-Coumaric acid and Ferulic acid). Conclusion: Our study tends to validate the traditional use of this medicinal herb as complementary and alternative medicine.

Key Words: purple basil, antioxidant, MCF-7, HPLC.