Hyoscyamus albus is a plant which belongs to the Solanaceae family, used generally in traditional medicine as a nervous sedative and para sympatholytic which is a rich source of flavonoid, alkaloids and tropane. The present work is for an object to test the methanolic fractions extracted from the aerial parts of H.albus collected among the Aures region in Algeria, and evaluate their cytotoxic activity on different cancer cells lines with the characterization of microscopically morphology of apoptosis cell. The effects of the four different selected methanolic fractions of H.albus extract ( D, E, F, G) obtained by column chromatography over Sephadex LH-20 on DU-145, PC-3, U-87 MG and U-373 MG cancer cells lines were determined using MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay and the cell were marked by acridine orange to visualize the apoptotic cells aspect. Our results indicate that the fraction C has a cytotoxic activity against three different cells with an IC50 = 73 μg/ml, 187 μg/ml, 96 μg/ml and 114 μg/ml for the DU-145, PC-3, U-87 MG and U-373 MG respectively, the morphological aspect of the apoptotic cell have revealed several physiologic change which attempt an apoptotic cell marked by a fluorescent agent. Additionally, fraction D showed an activity against DU-145 with IC50=186 μg/ml, the fraction F has an IC50 =165 μg/ml and 198 μg/ml against DU-145 and PC-3 respectively. The fraction G showed a notable activity against DU-145, LNCaP and U-373 MG. The results demonstrated the anticancer properties of H.albus fractions and its therapeutic benefits, so they are indicative for several alternative investigations on molecular mechanisms underlying the activity and components identification.
Key words: Hyoscyamus albus L., Solanaceae, Acridine, Cytotoxic Activity, Fraction.