LC-ESI-MS analysis, antitumor and antioxidant activities of methanolic extract of Egyptian Allium kurrat

Human have been constantly using plants to overcome many diseases.Allium kurrat is an edible cultivated vegetable in Egypt.The aim of this survey is to determine total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the methanol extract and certainly obtained fractions from it.Antioxidant activity of these extracts was evaluated by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl radical), ABTS (2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothialozine-sulphonic acid) and total antioxidant capacity assays.Also, cytotoxic activity of these extracts was determined against human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and human colon carcinoma (Caco-2) using Neutral red assay.LC-ESI-MS analysis was carried out for the most active extracts.The results revealed that ethyl acetate fraction has the highest phenolic and flavonoid contents (127.45 ± 0.71 (mg GAE eq./g extract) and 98.55 ± 1.87 (mg RE eq./g extract)) as well as showed the highest antioxidant activity.On the other hand, the butanolic fraction had the highest antitumor activity on HepG2 and Caco-2 cell lines (36.2 µg/ mL and 44.6 µg/mL) respectively.These results proved that the antitumor activity of this plant is correlated with many active ingredients in it.The LC-ESI-MS analysis identified a mixture of phenolic compounds (flavonoid glycosides and phenolic acids).Thus, Allium kurrat contains active ingredients which inhibit the risk of many chronic diseases.