Antiproliferative and Antioxidant Activities of Chloroform Soluble and its Fractions Obtained from Methanolic Extract of Cocoa pod Husk

Abstract

Cocoa pod husk (Theobroma cacao L.) is an emerging source of bioactive compounds, revealed to possess anti-cancer potential by several reports. Herein, we aimed to investigate the antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of chloroform soluble (TCC) along with its 11 fractions (TCC1-11) obtained following the methanolic maceration of cocoa pod husk. Firstly, air-dried simplicial powder of cocoa pod husk was macerated using methanol and subsequently partitioned using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and acetone. The insoluble part was then hydrolyzed with HCl (6%) and followed by further separation using chloroform yielding TCC (0.712 g; 0.93% w/w). Fractionation was further carried out using n-hexane and ethyl acetate solvents with an elution gradient system. TCC was revealed to have cytotoxicity against A. salina with LC50 equals to 105.04 mg/L, and the LC50s of its fractions ranged from 1.42 to 10.67 mg/L. Based on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity of TCC, the IC50 was obtained as low as 4.56 mg/L. Relatively less potent antioxidant activities were shown by the TCC1-11, where the IC50s were ranged from 284.478 to 37.909 mg/L. The highest anticancer potential was TCC10 (LC50 = 1.42 mg/L). With such anti-cancer potential, more investigations on the TCC and its fraction are required to determine the phytocompound profiles as well as the anti-cancer mechanism.