Toxicological Profile of Hexane Extract of Alpinia conchigera (Small Ginger) In vitro

Alpinia conchigera (small ginger) is a herbaceous plant that is usually used as an alternative treatment in the field of traditional medicine. This study was conducted to evaluate the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mode of cell death of hexane extract of A. conchigera towards Chang liver cells. The 24 hours MTT assay as carried out to determine the viability percentage of Chang liver cells after being treated with hexane extract of A. conchigera. The results showed that there was a significant decrease in cell viability (p 0.05) and IC50 value of hexane extract of A. conchigera was 8.6 μg/ml compared to negative control. Based on this IC50 value, AO/PI staining was done to determine the mode of cell death in liver Chang cells by means of apoptosis or necrosis. The results showed that there was a significant change (p 0.05) for mode of Chang liver cells death through apoptosis compared to negative control. In this study, the evaluation of DNA damage was also done using alkaline comet assay. The IC10 and IC25 values of 4 μg/ml and 6 μg/ml respectively that were obtained in MTT assay were used. Chang liver cells were treated with A. conchigera hexane extract for 2 hours. There was a significant change (p 0.05) for percentage of DNA damage in treated group compared to negative control. As a conclusion, hexane extract of A. conchigera gave cytotoxic and genotoxic effect towards Chang liver cells as well as to induce cell death through apoptosis