CHEMICAL STUDY AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF VARIOUS EXTRACTS FROM LAWSONIA INERMIS (HENNA) SEEDS

RAFIKA CHAIBI, SAWSEN DRINE, ALI FERCHICHI    

Laboratory of Arid Land and Oases Cropping, Institute of Arid Regions, Médenine, Tunisia        

Objectives: In this study we attempted to determine chemical composition, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cholinesterase and cytotoxic activities of extracts with different polarities (hexane, chloroform and methanol) obtained from Lawsonia inermis seeds and compared to those in controls.

Methods: Seeds of Lawsonia inermis were extracted successively in a Soxhlet system. The quantification of total phenolics of each extract was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The antioxidant scavenging activity was studied using 1, 1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH)/2,20-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonate (ABTS) assays. Ascorbic acid was used as a standard. The anti-inflammatory activity of Lawsonia inermis seeds was determined on Soybean lipoxygenase. Cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitory activities were measured using Galanthamine as a positive control. The Cytotoxicity of each extract was estimated on human breast cancer cells (HTC-116) by the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethyl thiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay.

Conclusion: The methanolic seed extract from Lawsonia inermis presented a very good antioxidant activity, a stronger 5- lipoxygenase and moderate acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities. The strongest activity of Henna seed against human breast cancer cells (HTC-116) were obtained for the chloroform extract (IC50 = 45 mg/L). Our findings suggested that Lawsonia inermis seed could be a potential source of active molecule.