GC-MS Analysis, In Vitro Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Studies of Wheatgrass Extract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and oxidative stress is one of the factors responsible for causing cancer. Antioxidants play a very important role in prevention of cancer. Therefore, efforts have been made to identify natural antioxidants having anti-cancer potential. Various herbs, fruits and vegetables have diverse phytochemicals that display antioxidant properties and help in reducing the risk of cancer. Wheatgrass has a potent antioxidant efficacy and has been used as a health drink to cure many diseases in folk medicine. In the present study, a number of solvent extracts of wheatgrass was tested for their antioxidant ability. The most effective solvent extract was further evaluated for cytotoxic effect in Hep2 cell lines and apoptotic induction was demonstrated by propidium iodide (PI) fluorescent staining. The bioactive constituents were analysed by GC-MS. Methanol extract (ME) showed the highest quantity of phenols and flavonoids. PI staining showed apoptotic features like nuclear fragmentation and chromatin condensation and GC-MS analysis showed the presence of nine bioactive phytoconstituents in methanol extract. Hence we conclude that wheatgrass has good antioxidant and cytotoxic property and being a natural product, could be a good candidate for cancer prevention and treatment.