Preclinical evaluation of the encelia canescens lam extract: Medicinal properties useful for cancer treatment

Abstract

© 2015, Informatics Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Encelia canescens Lam (nv: mancapaqi, mataloba, matalobo, mucle, or “coronilla de fraile”) is a 30-80-cm high shrubby perennial plant that grows in the Atacama and Coquimbo regions of Chile up to 1,700 m above the sea. The present research was performed to examine the toxicological, antioxidant and antitumoural properties of aqueous and ethanol Encelia canescens Lam extracts. Our results revealed the presence of saponins, terpenes, flavonoids, coumarins and tannins. The total phenolic compound contents were 19±1.14 mg/g tannic acid in the aqueous extract and 23±1.60 mg/g tannic acid in the ethanol extract. The total flavonoid contents were 0.15±0.02 mg/g quercetinin the aqueous extract and 0.13±0.06 mg/g quercetinin the ethanol extract. Based on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assays, the antioxidant capacities were 354±23 µmol trolox/100 g of the dry ethanol extract and 303±15 µmol trolox/100 g of the dry aqueous extract. Usin