Effect of the Water Extracts of Avocado Fruit and Cherimoya Leaf on Four Human Cancer Cell Lines and Vicia Faba Root Tip Cells

The main objective of this study is to determine the effect of the water extract of Persea americana Mill. (avocado fruit) and Annona cherimolia Mill (cherimoya leaf) on living cells. The antiproliferative properties of avocado fruit water extract (AFWE) and cherimoya leaf water extract (CLWE) were determined using four human cancer cell lines- lung (A549), liver (HepG-2), colon (HT-29) and breast (MCF-7). Cancer cells were incubated with 100 µg/ml of AFWE or CLWE for 48 hours, then the cell viability was measured using colorimetric tetrazolium cleavage test (MTT). Both extracts resulted in more than 90% mortality in treated cells. Vicia faba root tip assay was used to determine the effect of AFWE and CLWE on mitotic index (MI), Micronuclei (MN) formation rate and chromosomal abnormalities. Vicia faba roots were soaked in 100, 1250, 2500, 5000, 10000, 20000 µg/ml of AFWE or ALWE for 4 and 24 h. AFWE and CLWE were mitodepressive and resulted in a significant decrease of MI in a dose dependant manner. CLWE treatment resulted in a decrease in prophase cell percentage and an increase in MN & chromosomal abnormalities. On contrary, the prophase cell percentage was linearly increasing with the applied concentration without micronuclei formation in avocado treatment. Our results strongly indicate that avocado and cherimoya extracts were highly cytotoxic and mitodepressive on cancer and plant cells, respectively.