Screening of in vitro cytotoxic activity of Ephedra alata used traditionally to treat cancer in Libya

Abstract

Ephedra is one of the Libyan medicinal herbs that are traditionally involved in folk medicine to treatseveral diseases. Ephedra is known to have antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The goal of this study is to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of methanolic extract of Ephedra alata plant growing wild in the east of Libya against two human cancer cell lines HEPG2human liver cancer cell line and PC3human prostate cancer cell line. The results show that the plantmethanolic extract has a significant cytotoxic effect on both cell lines compared with doxorubicin as a positive control.