Investigation of apoptotic, cytotoxic, and antioxidant effects of Juglans regia against MDA-MB-231 and A549 cell lines

Cancer is one of the most common pathologies in the world, which for centuries has led to a decline in the standard of living and even death of many people. In short, cancer is a disease that occurs when mutations in genes that limit and regulate cell proliferation, survival, and movement are reflected in somatic cells. In recent years, there have been many new and promising developments in the world of science for cancer treatment. However, due to the side effects of some treatments, the cost of others, and the fact that some drugs are still in the trial phase, it has not yet reached the expected level of treatment and success. This has encouraged the scientific community to investigate natural agents due to their lower cost and limited side effects. Juglans regia L., popularly known as walnut, is a plant containing many natural compounds that have been used both as a foodstuff and for various medicinal purposes from past to present. As a result of the literature review, it is known that walnut has many medicinal and biological properties, especially anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antiallergic properties. In this study, the outer shells of J. regia were used and the components of these shells were extracted with three different solvents: methanol, ethanol, and hexane. These extracts were used in cytotoxic activity and antioxidant activity assays. The antioxidant activity of the extract was determined using a DPPH assay. Cytotoxic activity was determined by MTT assay using a breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231). J. regia extracts were found to have significant cytotoxic activity on the MDA-MB-231 cell line. It has been observed that the outer bark of J. regia showed more potent anticancer effects than antioxidant activity. According to the results obtained from the study, the antioxidant and cytotoxic effect of the outer bark of J. regia is thought to contribute significantly to the identification of new active substances for cancer treatment. Therefore, further studies are needed to fully determine the effects of the outer bark of J. regia.