Antioxidant, cytotoxicity and phytochemical analysis of Larinus maculates F. cocoon aqueous extract against lung cancer

Cocoon of larva Larinus maculates F. from Curculionidae family (Echinops species), locally in Iraq known as Tihan, is one of traditional folk medicine used in the treatment of diversity respiratory system and fever. This study was carried out to assess the bioactive component and the antioxidant capability of aqueous beetle cocoon extract (Larinus maculates F.) along with its possible cytotoxic activity against A549 lung cancer cell line. For phytochemical analysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used, and to detected free scavenging activity 2, 2-diphenyl-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was used. To determine the cytotoxicity in the cancer cell line 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-z-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) was used; peripheral blood monolayer cells (PBMCs) was used as a normal cell. GC-MS analysis identified the presence of 9 phytochemical components. DPPH results suggested a promising antioxidant activity in a dose-dependent, the best antioxidant potential was at 600 μg.ml⁻¹ concentration. Cytotoxic activity results showed that the increase in extract concentration decreases the cell viability, at 50 μg.ml⁻¹ concentration the percentage of viability was (86.76±0.87) where at 200 μg.ml⁻¹ the cell viability was (56.44±0.91) μg.ml⁻¹ Taken together, the results showed that larva cocoon of Larinus maculates F. extract has an important phyto-molecule with great potent antioxidant and cytotoxicity activity against lung cell line A549..