Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the ethanol extract of farmed edible bird’s nest in Viet Nam

Abstract

     Edible bird’s nest (EBN) is a well-known tonic food in Asian countries. Previous studies revealed that the aqueous extract of EBN exhibited remarkable pharmacological values such as antiviral, anti-inflammatory activities, osteoarthritic prevention and neural protection. However, the bioactivities of the EBN extracts in other solvents are still under investigation. In this study, we first determined the antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the ethanol extract of farmed EBN in Viet Nam. The analysis of (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) (DPPH) assay showed that the ethanol extract considerably scavenged free radicals, IC₅₀ = (94.74 ± 2.35) µg/mL. In addition, the ethanol extract exhibited significant cytotoxic activities against HuH-6 liver cancer cells, MCF-7 breast cancer cells and K562 leukemia cells with the IC₅₀ values of (82.12 ± 2.42, 98.72 ± 2.50 và 53.70 ± 0.12) µg/mL, respectively. These results serve as a basis for further studies on the chemical constituents and the antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the EBN ethanol extract in vivo models.