The Phytochemicals and their derivatives found in plants are most promising alternatives to improve treatment regimens in cancer patients with less adverse effects. Methanolic and aqueous extracts of D. erecta were assessed for their cytotoxicity in C127I cell line by 3-(4,5-dimethyl thazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay at concentrations of 320, 160, 80, 40, 20 and 10 µg/mL and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was calculated using Graph Pad Prism 5.0. Doxorubicin was used as positive control. Dose dependent reduction in cell viability was noticed when the cells were subjected to different concentrations of the extracts. The IC50 of the aqueous and methanolic extract of D. erecta were 41.58 and 44.66 µg/mL respectively. The cells were seeded in 6 well plates at a concentration of 1×105 cells/mL and were treated for 24 hours with methanolic and aqueous extract of D. erecta at concentration of IC50. The cells were trypsinised and subjected to Acridine orange – Ethidium bromide staining (AOEB) staining detected nuclei of normal cells stained by AO penetration which dyes green via attaching to DNA, EB, on the other hand, dyes the nuclei of late apoptotic and necrotic cells red and the result shows that D. erecta and doxorubicin induced apoptosis in a dose dependent manner. In conclusion, this study established that the methanolic and aqueous extract of D. erecta induces apoptosis in cancer cells in a dose dependent manner could be developed as a lead molecule for cancer management after conducting clinical trials in vivo and human subjects.

Highlights

• The methanolic and aqueous extract of D.erecta induces apoptosis in cancer cells in a dose dependent manner
• The IC50 of the aqueous and methanolic extract of D. erecta were 41.58 and 44.66 µg/mL respectively.