Green Barley Extract Possesses Antiproliferative And Partial Antioxidant Activity On Human Cancer Cells

In this study, we investigated if green barley (GB) extract (10% w/v) possesses antiproliferative, cytotoxic, and antioxidant effects.  To measure the antiproliferative activity, cells were incubated in the presence of GB extract for 4 days, then the total number of cells/milliliter and percentage of death cells was determined.  The results revealed that there were lower number of cells/milliliter when cells were treated with GB extract as compared to untreated cells. However, the difference in percentage of dead cells in samples treated with GB extract and untreated cells was negligible.  These results indicated that GB extract possesses antiproliferative activity on cancer cells and that this effect was not due to cell death.  To investigate the antioxidant activity of GB extract, cells were preincubated with GB extract, washed with fresh media, and then exposed to Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). When comparing the percentage of cytotoxicity between cells pretreated with GB extract and not exposed to H₂O₂, pretreated cells exhibited a lower percentage of cell death.  This result indicated that GB extract has partial protective activity against the cytotoxic activity of H₂O₂. In conclusion, GB extract contains both antiproliferative and a partial antioxidant activity, but has no direct cytotoxic effect on lymphoma cancer cell lines.