In vitro Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities of New Herbal Ointments

 Objective: The present study was aimed to investigate the possible effect of newer poly herbal ointment formulations against skin cancers. Materials and Methods: The newer polyherbal ointment formulations (PHF-I, PHF-II and PHF-III) containing varying proportions of Zingiber officinale (rhizome), Curcuma longa (rhizome), Aloe barbadensis (leaf), Citrus aurantium (peels), Emblica officinalis (fruit) extracts and castor oil (Ricinus communis) were evaluated for their in vitro antioxidant activity (by using DPPH radical scavenging activity, H2 O2 radical scavenging activity, Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, total phenolic content and total reducing power assay) and in vitro cytotoxic activity (MTT assay) against skin cancer cell lines A431(skin carcinoma), A375 (melanoma) using Cisplatin as standard. Results: All the formulations have shown significant antioxidant activity (p<0.05) and (p<0.005) when compared to standard. PHF–II was found to be more potent than PHF-I and PHF-III. From these results PHF-II was selected for cytotoxic activity. PHF-II was found to be nontoxic for normal skin cells (HaCaT) but was found to exhibit toxicity for skin cancer cells with IC₅₀ values of 35 µg/ml and 41.5 µg/ml respectively on A375 and A431 cell lines. These results were compared to that of the standard cisplatin (IC₅₀ =20 µg/ml on A375 and IC₅₀ =9.01 µg/ml on A431 cell lines). Conclusion: PHF-II containing Aloe vera, Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale extracts in a relatively higher proportion exhibited the highest antioxidant and cytotoxic activities against skin cancer cell lines amongst the three formulations.