THE CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS OF PURPLE NUTSEDGE (Cyperus rotundus L.) TUBER ESSENTIAL OIL ON THE HELA CERVICAL CANCER CELL LINE

Abstract

Many problems in cancer therapy have prompted researchers to explore natural materials to discover new
anticancer substances with higher efficacy and more minimal side effects. Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.)
is one of the potential medicinal plants being studied as an anticancer substance. A variety of studies have been
conducted on the use of the purple nutsedge tuber as an anticancer substance, but not about the effects of its
essential oils on cervical cancer. The method used in this research was a cytotoxic test on HeLa cervical cancer
cells using an MTT assay. The cells were incubated with purple nutsedge essential oil in a 96-well plate with eight
series of doses (3.9-500 μg/ml), and each dose was performed three times. After the absorbance of the cells was
measured using an ELISA reader, the percentage of cell viability was calculated for each dose, followed by the
calculation of the inhibitory concentration 50% rate (IC50) using probit regression analysis. This research conclude
that purple nutsedge essential oil IC50 on HeLa cells is 35.062 + 11.258μg/ml. This indicates that there is a
cytotoxic effect of purple nutsedge essential oil on the HeLa cervical cancer cell line.