Hibiscus tiliaceus as potential source for antioxidant and anticancer agent

Abstract

Hibiscus tiliaceus (Sea hibiscus) is a tree that grows in the coastal environment and widely distributed in tropical mangroves regions. The objectives of this study are to know the antioxidant activity of the extracts of H. tiliaceus by using the 2,2-diphenyl­ l-piicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and to study the anticancer activity of H. tiliaceus extracts against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells by using the MTT assay. Quercetin was used as standard for antioxidant and anticancer activities. The extract used are methanol, hexane, ethyl acetate and water extracts from the flower (HMF, HHF, HEAF and HWF), seed (HMS, HHS, HEAS and HWS) and leaf (HML, HHL, HEAL and HWL) of H. tiliaceus. In quantitative assay of antioxidant, ten of sample extracts (HMF, HMS, HML, HHS, HEAF, HEAS, HEAL, HWF and HWL) contained antioxidant activity higher than quercetin which has IC50 of 0.127 mg/ml and tw