Vol 11, Issue 3, 2018 Online - 2455-3891 Print - 0974-2441 ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTICANCER ACTIVITIES OF HEXANE FRACTION FROM CARICA PAPAYA L. MALE FLOWER MASRIA PHETHERESIA SIANIPAR*, EDY SUWARSO, ROSIDAH ROSIDAH Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia. Email: masriasianipar12@gmail.com Received: 05 September 2017, Revised and Accepted: 25 November 2017 ABSTRACT Objective: This study examined the antioxidant and anticancer potential activities of the hexane fraction from the male flower of Carica papaya L., which is long been known to be a very important source of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical. Methods: Standard fractioned (fraction) method with phytochemical screening. The antioxidant activity was carried out using the α,α-diphenyl-β- picrylhydrazyl method and the anticancer potential activity was carried out using 3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-. 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay to check the cytotoxic activity on WiDr (colon cancer cell) and Vero cell (normal cell). Result: Phytochemical screening of the hexane fraction from the male flower of papaya shows a strong sign of triterpenoids and steroids; while the IC50 of antioxidant value was 100.81±1.180 µg/ml. Cytotoxic effect shows that the hexane fraction of papaya male flower had selectivity to WiDr cell (colon cancer cell). Conclusion: This study provides evidence that C. papaya L. male flower possesses antioxidant activity, as well as cytotoxic and chemopreventive properties. It might be beneficial as medicinal plant as an antioxidant and anticancer nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sources. Keywords: Carica papaya, Antioxidant, α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl, Anticancer, 3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-. 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, Hexane, Chemoprevention. INTRODUCTION Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive species, due to the presence of unpaired valence shell electrons. Free radicals or ROS are regularly and continuously produced as byproducts of normal cellular metabolism in aerobics. Free radical chain reactions are usually produced in the mitochondrial respiratory chain, liver mixed functions, and by drugs or xenobiotic such as synthetic pesticides. In addition, chemical mobilization of fat stores under various conditions such as lactation, exercise, fever, and even infection can cause an increase in radical activity that leads to oxidative stress [1,2]. Oxidative injury now appears the fundamental mechanism underlying a number of human neurologic and other disorders [3] such as neurodegenerative disorders, for example, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Down’s syndrome, inflammation, viral infection, autoimmune disorder, gastrointestinal inflammation, ulcer, mutagenesis, and carcinogenesis [4-6]. Moreover, the ROS also initiate the multistage carcinogenesis process starting with the DNA damage and accumulation of genetic events in one or a few lines, which leads to the progressive dysplastic cellular appearance, deregulated cell growth, and finally carcinoma [7]. Cancer is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. According to the cancer reports published by the World Health Organization and the World Cancer Research Fund, the incidence of cancer is still increasing, especially due to diet, environment, and carcinogenic virus infections [8,9]. Cancer is a multistep disease, incorporating physical, environmental, metabolic, chemical, and genetic factors, which play a direct and/or indirect role in the induction and deterioration of cancers. In Indonesia, colon and rectal cancer are ranked fourth of cancer deaths after lung, liver, and stomach cancer every year [10]. Therefore, proper prevention and treatment efforts are needed to reduce the incidence of death from colon cancer. Diet with high consumption of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables significantly reduces the risk of many cancer diseases suggesting that confident antioxidants could be effective agents for the inhibition of cancer spread [11]. Doxorubicin is one of the chemotherapeutic agents included in the main class of cytotoxic agents that are anthracyclines that have broad- spectrum antitumor activity. However, the use of doxorubicin is restricted because it can cause toxicity in normal cells, cardiotoxicity leading to heart failure [12] so that treatment becomes less effective. In other side, plants have many phytochemicals with various bioactivities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities which are safe [13-15]. One of the useful plants is male papaya (Carica papaya L.) flower. Male papaya flowers have long been known to be a very important source in maintaining public health. Flower papaya males have been studied where the plant part of flower papaya males has high antioxidants. For ages, papaya has been used as a medicinal plant traditionally, due to its antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer, and antitumor activities [16-18] and is well known for a wide variety of medicinal uses. By keeping in view all the properties of antioxidants, their use in the treatment of different degenerative and neurological disorders; present research work was designed for the isolation of bioactive components of male flower extracts and assessment of anticancer activity on different cancer cell lines, using different extracts of the male flower of C. papaya L. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of papaya male flower extracts on human colon cancer cell (WiDr). METHODS Plant material preparation Fresh papaya male flower was collected from local area of Porsea district (North Sumatera, Indonesia) and authenticated by Herbarium © 2018 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4. 0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2018.v11i3.22382 Research Article