Musa paradisiaca also known as banana possess great medicinal value such as haematopoietic, immunomodulatory, antifungal, anti-diabetic and antioxidant effects. Antioxidant and antiproliferative activities between two different species, banana soft pith (BSP) Awak and Abu were conducted in this study. Briefly, BSP were collected (Baling, Kedah) and extracted by 70% ethanol forming crude extract. The crude extracts were then fractionated by n-hexane, ethyl acetate, butanol and water. All BSP extracts and fractions were subjected to total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay, ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assay and cytotoxic assay screening (MTT). Fraction ethyl acetate from BSP Abu showed the highest cytotoxic activity towards HSC-4 cell lines (26.95 ± 1.80 µg/mL) and the highest TPC (12.25 ± 0.39 mg GAE/g) and FRAP assay (191.03 ± 0.83 mg FeSO4/g) values as compared to other fractions among BSP Abu. However, TPC (13.93 ± 0.28 mg GAE/g) and TFC (441.59 ± 19.31 mg QE/g) values of BSP Awak were found to be higher as compared to BSP Abu.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate apoptotic activity of silver nanoparticle Clinacanthus nutans (AgNps-CN) towards HSC-4 cell lines (oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines). Methods: Methods involved were MTT assay (cytotoxic activity), morphological cells analysis, flow cytometry and cell cycle analysis and western blot. Results: MTT assay revealed IC50 concentration was 1.61 mu g/mL, 3T3-L1 cell lines were used to determine whether AgNps-CN is cytotoxic to normal cells. At the highest concentration (3 mu g/mL), no cytotoxic activity has been observed. Flow cytometry assay revealed AgNps-CN caused apoptosis effects towards HSC-4 cell lines with significant changes were observed at G1 phase when compared with untreated cells. Morphological cells analysis revealed that most of the cells exhibit apoptosis characteristics rather than necrosis. Protein study revealed that ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 increased mainly due to down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression. Conclusion: AgNps-CN have shown potential in inhibiting HSC-4 cell lines. IC50 was low compared to few studies involving biosynthesized of silver nanoparticles. Apoptosis effects were shown towards HSC-4 cell lines by the increased in Bax/Bcl-2 protein ratio. Further study such as PCR or in vivo studies are required.