sensitivity of hematopoietic malignant cells to peganum harmala seed extract in vitro

Background and objective: peganum harmala is a medicinal plant that has been used for treatment of numerous diseases including viral, bacterial and parasitic infections. anti-proliferative and anti-tumor effects of peganum harmala extracts and its derivatives have been reported. in the present study, cytotoxic effect of peganum harmala seeds aquaous extract on leukemic u937 and molt-4 cells was evaluated in vitro. materials and methods: u937 and molt-4 cells were cultured in rpmi with 10% fbs. then, the cells at logarithmic growth phase were incubated with different concentrations of aquaous extract of peganum harmala seeds (0.1-5 mg/ml) for 24, 48 and 72 hours. then, viability and proliferative response of leukemic cell lines was evaluated by trypan blue dye exclusion (tb) and mtt assays, respectively. results: peganum harmala aquaous extract has a cytotoxic effect on leukemic cells used in this study, dose and time-dependently. this cytotoxicity was shown at ≥ 0.5 mg/ml after 24 hours and at ≥ 0.1 mg/ml after 48 and 72 hours incubation time. the peganum harmala seeds aqueous extract cytotoxicity at > 0.2 mg/ml concentration was significantly increased with time in this order: 72 h>48 h>24 h. conclusion: the leukemic cells used in this study showed sensitivity to peganum harmala seeds aquaous extract dose and time dependently. this sensitivity significantly increased with time at > 0.2 mg/ml concentration. peganum harmala seeds aquaous extract shows cytotoxicity for leukemic cells and might be a valuable natural candidate in development of innovative therapeutic procedures for leukemia and probably other cancers.