The effectiveness of mycorrhizae inoculation to perennial sow thistle biomass and quercetin production, and its extract effect to cervical cancer cells inhibition in vitro

Sonchus arvensis L. is an Indonesian medicinal plant commonly used for raw material in traditional medicine. The purposes of this study were (1) to find the suitable type of mycorrhizae on two types of perennial sow thistle to produce maximum amount of quercetin, and (2) to examine the effectiveness of perennial sow thistle extract to inhibit cervical cancer cells by in vitro method. The trial was conducted in randomized block design, factorial, and was repeated 3 times. The first factor was perennial sow thistle accession from a) Bogor (245 m a.s.l.) and b) Manoko (1200 m a.s.l.), both in West Java, Indonesia. The second factor was arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF) types inoculation: a) control, b) AMF1, c) AMF2, d) AMF3. The application of AMF propagules was 300 spores pot^-1. The inhibition of cervical cancer cell was tested using HeLa cells grown on DMEM media containing fetal bovine serum (FBS), added with perennial sow thistle extracts. Inhibition activity in vitro was observed after two days cells growth incubation. The results showed that quercetin content of two perennial sow thistle accessions was relatively similar. Moreover, the highest content of quercetin was produced by AMF2 inoculation in both the accessions, 1.15% from Bogor accession and 1.13% from Manoko accession. Perennial sow thistle extracts of AMF2 treatment could inhibit the growth of cervical cancer cells in vitro much more profound than control (67.27 µg mL^-1) with IC₅₀ KLEINERDAN1.2 µg mL^-1. This promising result in the cervical cancer cells inhibition needs further investigation.