Biological activity of plant extract isolated from Papaver rhoeas on human lymfoblastoid cell line.

Varied medicinal plants are known as a source of natural phytochemicals with antioxidant activities that can protect organisms from oxidative stress and from various chronic diseases. Papaver rhoeas has a long history of medicinal usage, especially for ailments in adults and children. The possible cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and potential antioxidant effect of plant extract isolated from flowers of Papaver rhoeas was investigated in human lymfoblastoid cell line (TK6). Antioxidant activity of this extract was determined using the DPPH assay. The plant extract exhibited dose dependent free radical scavenging ability. The growth activity assay was used for determination of cytotoxicity. To assess potential genotoxicity the comet assay was used. The lower extract concentrations (0.25 and 0.5 mg/ml) neither exerted cytotoxic, nor genotoxic effects in TK6 cells but they stimulated cell proliferation. The concentration 25 mg/ml scavenged almost 85% of DPPH free radical. On the other hand, this concentration had strong cytotoxic and genotoxic effect on TK6 cells. The balance between beneficial and harmful effects should be always considered when choosing the effective dose.