1.Antioxidant and Cytotoxicity Effect of Rice Bran Phytic Acid as an Anticancer Agent on Ovarian, Breast and Liver Cancer Cell Lines
Norhaizan ME ; Ng SKn ; Norashareena MS ; Abdah MA
Malaysian Journal of Nutrition 2011;17(3):367-375
Introduction: Phytic acid (PA) has been shown to have positive nutritional
benefits. There are also claims that it is able to prevent cancer through its
antioxidant capability. This study investigated antioxidant activity and cytotoxic
effect of PA extracted from rice bran against selected cancer cell lines (i.e. ovarian,
breast and liver cancer). Methods: Cytotoxicity activity of PA was investigated
using MTS [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-
sulfophenyl)]-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt] assay while the antioxidant activity of
PA extract, commercial PA and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was determined
by using five different assays: ferric thiocyanate (FTC) and thiobarbituric acid
(TBA) assay, β-carotene bleaching method, DPPH radical scavenging assay and
ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Results: PA extracted from rice
bran induced marked growth inhibition in ovary, breast and liver cancer cells
with 50% growth inhibition concentration (IC50) values of 3.45, 3.78 and 1.66
mM, respectively but exhibited no sensitivity towards a normal cell line (3T3).
The PA extract was also found to exert antioxidant activity when tested using the
FTC, TBA, FRAP and β-carotene bleaching methods but antioxidant activity
could not be attributed to scavenging free radical species as measured by DPPH
radical scavenging assay. Conclusion: The PA extract from rice bran displayed
safe and promising anticancer properties in selected cancer cell lines and it is
believed that its antioxidant capability is the likely contributor to the observed
anticancer properties.