Fennel seeds [foeniculum vulgare] methanolic extract and volatile oil as antioxidant and anticarcinogenic agent

ABSTRACT

Fennel seeds volatile oil obtained by traditional steam distillation was separated and its volatile constituents were identified by using GC and GC/MS. The antioxidant activity of fennel seeds methanolic extract was evaluated by various antioxidant assays including, total antioxidants, the stable free radical species and free radical scavenging as well as its effect on the oxidative stability of sunflower oil at the levels of 100, 200, 300. 500 and 700 ppm, compared with Butelated Hydroxy Toluene [BHT] 200 ppm, using Rancimat assay. Furthermore, the effect of oral administration of fennel volatile oil [100 mg/kg] in mice inoculated with Ehrlich ascites carcinoma with or without exposure to fractionated doses of gamma irradiation [up to 6 Gy] were evaluated. The obtained results reveal that the predominant alcohol was estragole [71 .1%], and the major component of volatile fractions. L-limonene was the most common monoterpene hydrocarbons [11.97%], while gallic acid was the most common abundent phenolic compound in fennel seeds [18.895 mg/gm]. FS methanolic extract exhibited a strong antiradical scavenging activity [100%], which may contribute to the interpretation of the pharmacological effects of fennel seeds. A positive correlation between oxidative stability of sunflower oil and increasing the FS methanolic extract levels was also obtained. Therefore, FS could be used as a safe, effective and easily accessible source of natural antioxidant to improve the oxidative stability of fatty foods during storage. Furthermore, fennel volatile oil had a highly cytotoxic and anticarcinogenic activities against human tumor cell lines. Administration of fennel volatile oil to erlish beering normal mice resulted in a significant increase [p<0.01] of serum iron, but it had no significant change in the levels of TIBC, transferrin and total protein in liver and tumor, as well as, a significant increase in malondialdehyde [MDA] level accompanied with significant decrease in catalase activity in both liver and tumor tissues in the group of mice bearing tumor, also total protein content increased in tumor tissue. Generally, it could be concluded that the combined treatment of fennel volatile oil with irradiation exposure revealed an improvement in the therapeutic gain