Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Abstract: Artemisia absinthium, renowned for its medicinal properties, boasts a wealth of biologically active compounds, rendering it indispensable for extracting chemicals from its aerial parts using Soxhlet extraction. Through diverse chromatography methods, fractions Ia and IIb were isolated, revealing numerous phenolics. XTT tests on cell cultures demonstrated that MCF-7 cancer cells treated with fatty acids exhibited significantly lower survival rates than the control group, with IC50 values of 43.24 and 347.2, respectively. Fraction Ia exhibited dose-dependent effects on cell viability, inhibiting MCF7 breast cancer cell proliferation by 76.4%, 67.08% and 48.98% at doses of 5, 10, and 20µg/mL, respectively, while exerting minimal impact on the healthy cell line WI38, with percentages of 97.82%, 95.49% and 91.52%, respectively. Similarly, fraction IIb significantly impeded MCF7 cell growth at doses of 5, 10 and 20µg/mL, with percentages of 66.12%, 47.05%, and 33.26%, respectively, yet demonstrated negligible effects on WI38 cells, with percentages of 98.80%, 96.73% and 95.55%, respectively. Notably, fraction IIb exhibited selective toxicity towards breast cancer cells, indicating the potential of A. absinthium plant extracts in breast cancer treatment.