CYTOTOXICITY EVALUATION OF MORINGA OLEIFERA (M. OLEIFERA) LAM. FLOWERS ON HUMAN LIVER CANCER CELL LINE AND A. SALINA (BRINE SHRIMP) MODELS

Moringa oleifera Lam is a fast-growing deciduous tree widely cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical regions. All parts of the plant have widely acclaimed nutrition and health-promoting values, but little has been done regarding the toxicity. This study evaluated the safety of different extracts from Moringa flowers using brine shrimp and cell line models. The effect of different concentrations (0.0625-1 mg/mL) of Moringa oleifera flower extracts was assessed on the percentage hatching of brine shrimp cysts and Lethal Concentration (LC₅₀) mortality of nauplii, respectively. Successful hatching of cysts was in the order: Tea (boiled aqueous extract) >aqueous extract>methanol extract>ethanol extract>acetone extract, and mortality of nauplii was concentration-dependent. The highest mortality was observed for all the extracts at 1 mg/mL, with acetone extract exhibiting the highest toxicity (LC₅₀ at 40μg/ml). Cytotoxicity activity of Moringa oleifera flower extract on human liver cancer HepG2 cells and computational validation of cell death was evaluated on HepG2/C3A cell lines treated with 12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200 μg/mL of Moringa oleifera flower for 48 hours and analyzed using MTT assay. Only the acetone extract of Moringa oleifera flowers inhibited the growth and proliferation of liver cancer cells. These findings add to the growing evidence supporting the safety of aqueous extracts of Moringa oleifera flowers and the promising potential of its acetone extract as an anti-cancer agent.