Effect of traditional plants in Sri Lanka on skin fibroblast cell number

This article describes the effects of extracts of several plants collected in Sri Lanka on the cell number of human skin fibroblasts. This study especially focuses on the plants traditionally used in indigenous systems of medicine in Sri Lanka, such as Ayurveda, as described below (English name, “local name in Sri Lanka,” scientific name). Bougainvillea plant, “bouganvilla,” Bougainvillea grabla (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [1], purple fruited pea eggplant,”welthibbatu,” Solanum trilobatum (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [2], country borage plant, “kapparawalliya,” Plectranthus amboinicus (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [3], malabar nut plant, “adhatoda,” Justicia adhatoda (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [4], long pepper plant,”thippili,” Piper longum (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [5], holy basil plant, “maduruthala,” Ocimum tenuiflorum (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [6], air plant, “akkapana,” Kalanchoe pinnata (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [7], plumed cockscomb plant, “kiri-henda,” Celosia argentea (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [8], neem plant,”kohomba,” Azadirachta indica (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [9], emblic myrobalan plant, “nelli,” Phyllanthus emblica (Nature׳s Beauty Creations Ltd., 2014) [10]. Human skin fibroblast cells were treated with various concentration of plant extracts (0–3.0%), and the cell viability of cells were detected using calcein assay. The cell viabillity profiles are provided as line graphs.


Data
This data article contains line graphs showing the effects of extracts of several plants harvested in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on the cell number of human skin fibroblasts. Cells were treated with various concentrations (0-3.0%) of each plant extracts for 24 h, and percent cell viability was calculated relative to that of untreated controls. Data represent the mean 7 SE values from triplicate independent experiments (*P o0.05, **P o0.001 and ***P o0.001 vs. control).

Experimental design, materials and methods
All plants were collected from a medicinal garden at the Institute of Traditional Plants in Sri Lanka (Negombo, Sri Lanka). Each plants were cleaned with water, dried under shade conditions for 3-days, and cutted in pieces with scissors. Each plant extract were extracted with specific solvents at room temperature for 24 h as described below (plant name, part, solvent(ratio)). The extract were filtered through a filter paper and 0.22 mm filter [11].

Fibroblast cell culture
Normal human dermal skin fibroblasts, RIKEN original (NB1RGB), were provided by the RIKEN BRC through the National Bio-Resource Project of the MEXT, Japan. The cells were cultured in Minimum Essential Media-alpha (MEMα; Life Technologies Corp.) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Biowest) and 0.2% NaHCO 3 . Cells were grown at 37°C in a humidified incubator containing 5%

Cell number analysis (calcein assay)
To determine cell viability, cells were seeded (3 Â 10 3 cells/well) in a 96-well plate. Cells were exposed to various concentrations of plant extracts for 24 h. The cells were then stained with 10 mM calcein-AM (Dojindo) in the dark for 30 min at 37°C and washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The fluorescence intensity (em/ex, 485/530 nm) of each well was measured using a Spec-traMax s i3x fluorescence microplate reader (MOLECULAR DEVICES). Data were calculated as the percent cell viability compared to that of controls without plants extracts treatment and have been presented as the mean and SE values for triplicate wells.

Statistical analysis
All the values have been reported in terms of mean 7SE values. The data were analyzed using the Student's t-test. A P value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant (Fig. 1).