Antioxidant and anticancer activities of artemisia annua L. and determination of functional compounds

Abstract

The antioxidant and anticancer activities of leaves and stems from Gaeddongssuk (Artemisia annua L.) were investigated. The leaves and stems were extracted with water and 80% ethanol, respectively. The antioxidant and growth inhibition activities toward cancer cells by the 4 kinds of extracts were tested. In addition, phenolic compounds from A. annua were identified through quantitative analysis using HPLC. Antioxidant activities significantly increased in a does-dependent manner, and those of water and ethanol extracts of the leaves were stronger than those of the stems. Growth inhibition activities of the leaf extracts on HeLa and AGS cells were higher than those of the stem extracts. In particular, the ethanol extract of the leaves had growth inhibition activities of 61.07% and 57.24% against HeLa and AGS cells, at the concentration of 500 μg/mL, respectively, which were the highest among all the extracts. Phenolic acid and catechin contents of the A. annua extracts as determined by HPLC were higher in the leaves than in the stems. Flavonols were identified only in the leaves. The data suggest that the antioxidant and anticancer activities of A. annua extracts were due to phenolic compounds as well as unknown biological compounds in A. annua.