Cytotoxic activity of the phenolic extract of virgin coconut oil on human hepatocarcinoma cells (HepG2)

Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites widely distributed in plants. This study aims to extract the phenolics in Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) and study its cytotoxic effect on human Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HepG2). Using Fast Blue BB, the crude phenolic extract of VCO yielded 25.54 ppm gallic acid equivalence per 0.5 mg/ml sample. The antioxidant capacity of the phenolic extract gave an IC50 0.5 mg/ml against DPPH radical. Likewise, the phenolic extract was cytotoxic at IC50 of 1,958.5μg/ml and 1,563.59 μg/ml for 48 and 72 h against HepG2 cells. Compared to that of an anti-cancer drug 5-fluorouracil, which registered an IC50 of 5.41 μg/ml and 2.17 μg/ml for 48 and 72 h and gallic acid standard which gave an IC50 of 137.2 μg/ml and 106.85 μg/ml for 48 and 72 h, the phenolic extract of VCO is an antioxidant and cytotoxic agent on HepG2 cells.IntroductionCancer is a chronic morbid disease that can develop in any individual due to certain factors such as heredity, poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle and continuous exposure to various carcinogenic elements. According to GLOBOCAN (2008), liver cancer is the 5th most common cancer in men and 7th in women, 85% of which mostly occur in the developing countries. It is involved in several other liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis and is regarded as the third leading cause of death in the Philippines. Being a serious and life threatening illness, efforts have been made in order to discover and develop safer and affordable ways of treatment and prevention for the said disease.Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is fast becoming as a functional food oil of the Philippines (Marina et al., 2009). Hence, the study was conducted to support, in part, this claim. VCO contains sufficient amount of phenolic compounds that may be useful in eliciting several biological functions including cellular protection against oxidative stress (Dia et al., 2004; Marina et al., 2009; Seneviratne and Dissanayake 2008). According to Marina et al. (2008), VCO contains caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid and syringic acid.As reported also in the study of Marina et al. (2009), fermented VCO has a strong scavenging activity