Phytochemical Composition and Biological Properties of Berberis lycium and Solanum surattense

The present study was designed to assess the potential health benefits of Berberis lycium and Solanum surattense by evaluating their phytochemical content, and their biological activities, including antioxidant and anticancer potential. The antioxidant capacity of the extracts was assessed by using the DPPH radical scavenging assay, with IC50 values calculated to compare their relative antioxidant strength. The MTT assay measured cytotoxicity towards human prostate cancer cells (PC3). B. lycium exhibited significantly higher total phenolic content (193.83 ± 3.93 mg GAE/g) and total flavonoid content (37.47 ± 0.37 mg QE/g) compared to S. surattense (50.69 ± 3.53 mg GAE/g and 19.41 ± 0.33 mg QE/g, respectively), suggesting a rich profile of antioxidant compounds in B. lycium. Consistent with these findings, B. lycium extract exhibited significantly stronger DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC50 = 4.10 ± 0.06 µg/mL) followed by S. surattense extract (IC50 = 4.43 ± 0.11 µg/mL). Therefore, B. lycium could act as a potential source of antioxidant compounds for isolating new antioxidant molecules through bioassay-guided fractionation. Cytotoxic evaluation of B. lycium and S. surattense against human prostate cancer cells (PC3) was performed using the MTT assay. Results revealed significant cytotoxic effect of S. surattense (IC50 = 42.01±1.31µg/mL) compared with the standard drug Doxorubicin (IC50 = 14.13±2.08µg/mL). Berberis lycium showed weak cytotoxic effect (IC50 = 309.06±3.55 µg/mL). The results demonstrated an active anti-proliferative role of S. surattense extracts on human prostate cancer cells which suggests the use of this plant as a novel targeted therapy in human prostate cancer.