Moringa oleifera Lam. leaf powder antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity in human primary fibroblasts

Abstract

Moringa oleifera Lam. (MO) leaf powder has been well studied, however, understanding how extraction methods of antioxidant compounds affect human primary fibroblasts still needs to be determined. The antioxidant capacity was analyzed through a copper reduction capacity method and primary human skin fibroblasts were evaluated for cytotoxicity using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. Antioxidant activity under the influence of methanolic solvents (Trolox equivalents of 160.18 nmol/µL) was 17 times higher than under aqueous solvents. Interestingly, the aqueous extract showed less toxicity in comparison to the methanolic, as cells resulted more susceptible to concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 5 mg/L. Although, MO methanol solvent showed a higher antioxidant capacity in comparison to the aqueous solvent, it presented greater cytotoxicity. Thus, it is concluded that the aqueous extract could be suitable for downstream processing and applications.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Moringa oleifera Lam.
• antioxidant activity
• cytotoxicity
• MTT Assay
• fibroplasts

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank USFQ College of Science and Engineering, USFQ School of Medicine, and SIME-USFQ, for their support in research activities. Lourdes Orejuela and Andrea Landázuri especially thank Dr. Ing. Daniela Almeida, Chemical Engineering Department Head; Daniel Mantilla (Ecuamoringa) for providing MO powdered leaves and supporting The Moringa Project in Ecuador at USFQ; Dr. José Alvarez for lyophilizing MO extracts; Aracely Zambrano, from the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, for providing methanol; Dr. María de Lourdes Torres for its help and support during the project; BSc. Ariana León Sosa for her help in maintaining cells in culture; Serena Sanon, for her help in technical and grammar review of the manuscript. Andrés Caicedo would like to especially thank the School of Medicine and USFQ for their support regarding the facilities and equipment used for this project, such as the microscope Nikon TiS2R and work from the Biomedical Discovery Team.

Disclosure statement

The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest, or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), under the Poli-Grant 2019 and Collaboration Grant 2020.