Abstract Background: Teucrium persicum, a well-known Iranian endemic plant, has been used to treat various diseases in Iranian traditional medicine. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the antioxidant and cytotoxic effects of chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of T. persicum on cancer cell lines. Methods: The total phenolic and flavonoid contents, as well as the antioxidant potential of chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts were assayed. The GC-MS analysis was used to detect the chemical constituents of these two extracts. The cytotoxicity effects of extracts on two cancer cell lines, PC-3, SW-480, and HEK-293, as normal cell lines were evaluated using the MTT assay. Results: The average total phenolic contents of chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts were found to be 48 ± 0.2 and 25 ± 0.4, respectively (P < 0.05). The total flavonoid contents of chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts were measured as 34 ± 0.6 and 36 ± 0.6 mg EQ/g of the dried extract, respectively (P < 0.05). The antioxidant potential of chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts were calculated as 2.5 ± 0.013 and 3 ± 0.0023 µg/mL, respectively (P < 0.05). According to the GC-MS analysis, 60 and 61 different bioactive compounds were detected in chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts, respectively. MTT results showed that the SW-480 cell line was more sensitive than PC-3 and HEK-293 cells. Conclusions: It was concluded that T. persicum had significant antioxidant and cytotoxic properties. Taking our study results into account, cancer inhibiting properties of T. persicum were strongly supported. However, it was recommended that further specific and detailed biochemical and molecular studies should be conducted in order to discover the effective compound(s) and mechanism(s) responsible for producing these effects.
