Determination of Enzyme Inhibition Potential and Anticancer Effects of Pistacia khinjuk Stocks Raised in In Vitro and In Vivo Conditions

In this study, antihypertensive, anticholinesterase, antiurease, antityrosinase and antielastase enzyme inhibition and anticancer activities of in vivo (male and female) and in vitro samples (root, stem and leaf parts) of the Pistacia khinjuk Stocks were investigated comparatively. In this context, in vitro shoot cultures were obtained from germinated mature seeds. Then, the juvenile shoots were proliferated in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1 mg/L 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP). In terms of anticancer activity, the whole of the samples studied was found to have apoptotic effects against MCF-7 (breast cancer) and HT-29 (colon cancer) cell lines. The extracts obtained from in vivo female root parts showed better cytotoxicity than all the other tested extracts on MCF-7 (IC50: 31.86 ± 1.40 µg/mL) and HT-29 cell series (IC50: 59.60 ± 0.69 µg/mL). Even though all the samples showed a strong butyrylcholinesterase enzyme inhibition (BChE) activity, it was detected that none of the samples had shown acetylcholinesterase enzyme inhibition (AChE). It was also determined that in vivo leaf samples of female trees had the highest BChE activity (Inhibition%: 75.20 ± 1.50). All the samples showed a low-moderate level of urease and tyrosinase enzyme activity, while in vivo samples showed a significant level of the elastase enzyme activities (Inhibition%: 58.72 for female root extracts; 58.25 for female leaf extracts, at 50 µg/mL concentration), and they were more active than the standard oleanolic acid (Inhibition%: 39.46 ± 0.52). The antihypertensive activities as the inhibition of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) of in vivo samples (Inhibition%: 95.88 for female stem extracts; 95.18 for female root extracts) were detected as close to the standard (Inhibition%: 96.64 ± 1.85) used. In general, it can be stated that in vivo samples had higher biological activities compared to in vitro ones. Consequently, according to our results, it was concluded that in vitro stem parts of khinjuk pistachio could also be evaluated as an alternative new antihypertensive, antielastase and anticancer agent source.