The antioxidant and cytotoxicity capabilities of the total methanol leaf extract of Camellia yokdonensis

Camellia yokdonensis was first described in 2006 and clarified as a Vietnamese endemic Camellia. Camellia species are often associated with strong biological activity and have high application potential. However, there is currently no research on the biological activity of C. yokdonensis. The experiment was performed using DPPH assay and PFRAP assay to investigate the antioxidant capacity of the leaf extract. Besides, a 72-hour cytotoxic assay experiment on cancer cells showed the toxicity of the extract. The results showed that C. yokdonensis leaf extract has the ability to reduce iron ions and scavenge DPPH free radicals with an EC50 of 19.37 ± 1.66 µg/mL. Anticancer activity was determined by IC50 values (µg/mL) on HCC-J5, A549, MCF-7, and K562 cells as 138.00 ± 11.60, 172.90 ± 22.31, 175.52 ± 16.70, and 48.82 ±12.59, respectively.