Hamzeloomoghadam et al., IJPSR, 2013; Vol. 4(7): 2673-2676. ISSN: 0975-8232 International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research 2673 IJPSR (2013), Vol. 4, Issue 7 (Research Article) Received on 04 March, 2013; received in revised form, 20 May, 2013; accepted, 23 June, 2013 IN VITRO EVALUATION FOR CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITY OF THREE FERULA SPECIES M. Hamzeloomoghadam 1 , S. Esmaeili 2 , F. Fotoohi 3 , F. Naghibi 2 , A. Pirani 2 , H. Hajimehdipoor* 2 Department of Traditional Pharmacy, School of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences 1 , Tehran, Iran Traditional Medicine and Materia Medica Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences 2 , Tehran, Iran Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University 3 , Tehran, Iran ABSTRACT: To study the effect of herbal materials as anti-cancer agents, the first step is to evaluate their cytotoxic activity; thus in the present study, the cytotoxic activity of the extracts and fractions of Ferula szowitsiana, F. hirtella and F. oopoda in MCF-7, HT-29, A-549 and HepG-2 cells have been investigated through MTT assay. The result showed that the n-hexane and chloroform fractions of F. szowitsiana and F. hirtella were the most cytotoxic to all cell lines while F. hirtella extracts/fractions demonstrated little or no cytotoxic activity. The results suggest that the non-polar/semi polar constituents might be the cause for the cytotoxic behavior of the species. INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, there is a growing consideration in the use of natural materials for overcoming cancer and the development of safer and more productive therapies 1 ; thus the trend towards natural materials for finding new promising agents is growing in toxicology laboratories where primary assays consist of in vitro evaluation of cytotoxixty to cancerous cells. The genus Ferula (Apiaceae) has a wide distribution throughout Mediterranean and Middle East area, especially in countries such as Iran 2 where thirty perennial species of the genus grow. They are mostly found in mountainous regions and some are distributed in desert areas 3 . QUICK RESPONSE CODE DOI: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.4(7).2673-76 Article can be accessed online on: www.ijpsr.com These plants have proved to possess biological activity in different studies 4 and some Ferula species have demonstrated cytotoxic activity 5 . F. szowitsiana DC, F. hirtella Boiss and F. oopoda Boiss are three species with little or no history of previous cytotoxic investigations. In the present study the above Ferula species were collected from different reigns of Iran and the cytotoxicity of their total extract and the n-hexane, chloroform and methanol fraction have been evaluated against MCF- 7, HepG-2, MDBK, A-549 and HT-29 cell lines. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Chemicals and Reagents: RPMI 1640 medium, penicillin-streptomycin, 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2, 4-diphenyltetrazolium bromide [MTT] (Sigma), DMEM medium and FBS (Gibco) were used in cell culture assays; all organic solvents (analytical grade) were provided from Merck. Keywords: Ferula, Apiaceae, Cytotoxicity, MTT assay Correspondence to Author: H. Hajimehdipoor Traditional Medicine and Materia Medica Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences 2 , Tehran, Iran E-mail: hajimehd@tums.ac.ir