Biological Property of Fritillaria imperialis L. Extract

Abstract

A preliminary in vitro screening revealed the therapeutic status of extracts of Fritillariaimperialis L. that belongs to the Liliaceae family. Its tendrilled bulbs are consumed fresh or preparedin a powdered form and used as a home remedy for cough and phlegm, high fever, hemorrhage,lack of milk, treatment of abscesses, asthma, rheumatism, and eye disease. Herein, we investigatedthe antiproliferative, cytotoxic effects and antibacterial activities of Fritillaria imperialis L. extracts onthree cancer cell lines (HeLa, HT29, and C6), and a non-cancer cells (Vero). The potentialantiproliferative and cytotoxic impact of Fritillaria imperialis L. extracts were investigated in vitrothrough MTT and LDH measurement techniques, and its antimicrobial effects were studied with MICand disc-zone test. The extracts of Fritillaria imperialis L. have been shown to exhibit poorantiproliferative effects and antibacterial activities on some cancer cell lines and bacteria,respectively, at even high concentration. These data suggest that Fritillaria imperialis L. extracts arelow cytotoxic to cancer cell lines and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC25922). Our results indicate that clinic consideration of Fritillaria imperialis extracts for the treatmentof malignant and bacterial disease needs to be re-evaluated due to its different extraction andisolation methods.