Study on the Antioxidant and Anticancer Activities of Sorbus pohuashanensis (Hance) Hedl Flavonoids In Vitro and Its Screen of Small Molecule Active Components

Abstract

Firstly, the antioxidant capacity of total flavonoids that was extracted from Sorbus pohuashanensis (Hance) Hedl was determined by ABTS+·radical-scavenging method, and MTT assay was used to mensurate the anti-tumor activity of total flavonoids In Vitro. Subsequently, the extraction conditions of flavonoids were optimized by the response surface methodology, the antioxidant activity was investigated simultaneously. Furthermore, the anti-tumor activity mechanism of flavonoids was simulated by molecular docking software. The antioxidant activity of flavonoids was correlated with the content in the process of optimizing the extraction condition. Moreover, The MTT assay revealed that SPF inhibited the activity of four sorts of cancer cells and positively correlated with the concentration of total flavonoids. And the experimental data demonstrated its anticancer activity was better at high concentrations. Finally, its anti-tumor activity was found that may be related to small molecules from flavonoids bind the apoptotic proteins Caspase-3, Caspase-8, and Caspase-9. The study could provide a theoretical basis for further pharmacodynamic research of Sorbus pohuashanensis (Hance) Hedl flavonoids, and improved a valuable attribute to Sorbus pohuashanensis (Hance) Hedl.

Authors’ Contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and the main idea of the work. Xiaojin Yu: designed, conception, draft, revise, supervise and correct the paper and final approval of the version to be published. Hanhua: project administration, formal analysis, provided professional comments. Lianrong Yang, Guoliang Xie: statistical analysis, methodology, validation; Caiyan Liu, Zhengqing Li, Shizhe Chen: performed experiments, acquisition of data; Xiaodi Yang: preparing the figures. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant number 81603366.