Free Radical Scavenging and Cytotoxic Potential of Celosia argentea

Introduction: Oxidative stress due to reactive oxygen species often leads to pathogenesis of chronic diseases such as cancer. Research states that a diet rich in polyphenols renders many health benefits by scavenging such harmful reactive species. Celosia argentea (Amaranthaceae), a common weed in India has been reported as a potential source of cheap, natural antioxidants due to its phenolic abundance. In this research work efforts were made to identify and screen the phenolic rich fractions of Celosia argentea for their antioxidant and anticancer potential. Materials and Methods: Various solvent fractions with increasing polarity were subjected to total phenolic content, followed by antioxidant assays-DPPH, ABTS and anti proliferative assays- Brine shrimp Bioassay, Antimitotic and MTT assays. Results: IC₅₀ value of methanolic fraction for DPPH assay was statistically significant (26.25; ^***P<0.001) when compared with ascorbic acid (12.50; ^***P<0.001). Also TEAC values for methanolic fraction and BHT (standard) for ABTS assay were similar (2.1; ^***P<0.001) Methanolicfraction at 400 μg/ml exhibited strong cytotoxicity (9.0 ± 0.81; ^***P<0.001) against brine shrimps comparable to Methotrexate at 50 μg/ml(10; ^***P<0.001) and significantly reduced mitotic index from 96.8 to 38.0 (^***P<0.001) which was further confirmed by MTT assay where IC₅₀ value of methanolic fraction for SiHa and MCF-7 cells was found to be 28 μg/ml with no cytotoxicity to normal cells proving its anticancer potential. Conclusion: This research proves antioxidant and anticancer potential of phenolic rich fraction of Celosia argentea and suggests it to be useful in cancer management as antifroliferative, chemo preventive and in cancer chemotherapy induced immune suppression and oxidative stress.