Artemisia sieberi: leave phytochemical screening, and biological activity with special emphasis on anticancer and anthelminthic efficacy

ABSTRACT Intestinal helminths are a significant cause of death every year. Many developing countries do not have access to conventional medications. Moreover, several anthelminthic drugs are associated with side effects and progressive increase in drug resistance. Currently, there is growing interest in discovering new antiparasitic agents from ethnomedicinal plants. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate phytochemical screening, in vitro cytotoxicity, and anthelminthic activity ofArtemisia sieberileaves methanolic extract (ASLE). Using gas chromatography-mass spectra (GC-MS), the bioactive constituents of ASLE were detected. Additionally, different extract concentrations were tested for their anticancer activities when applied to colon cancer cell line HCT116 and liver cells Huh-7. ASLE was prepared and tested in vitro as an anthelmintic using earthwormEisenia fetida. Sixteen different bioactive constituents were found to be present in ASLE using (GC-MS). Moreover, ASLE showed significant cytotoxicity against cancer cells. The LC50 of ASLE was obtained at 353.7±2.54μg/mL for the HCT116 and 467.9±1.97 for the Huh-7cell lines. Compared to Mebendazole, ASLE (200mg/mL) produced paralysis and earthworm death by 6.730±0.517 and 7.334±0.118 min, respectively, while, mebendazole (10 mg/mL) showed 13.91±0.007 and 18.2±0.980 min, respectively. In addition, histological examination revealed noticeable abnormalities in the tegument architecture of treated worms. Our results showed that ASLE has anticancer and anthelminthic activity which encourages the undertaking of numerous in vivo studies to discover an effective treatment.