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Cytotoxic Effect and Antioxidant Activity of Bioassay-guided Fractions from <i>Solanum nigrum</i> Extracts


S Arullappan
P Rajamanickam
N Thevar
D Narayanasamy
HY Yee
P Kaur
M Mahandan

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxic effect and antioxidant activity of bioassay-guided fractions from Malaysian species of Solanum nigrum.

Methods: Methanol leaf and ethanol fruit extracts of Solanum nigrum were subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation using column chromatography. The semi-purified fractions were investigated for their in vitro cytotoxic effect against various cancer cell lines using 3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, and for antioxidant activity using 2, 2-diphenyl-1- picryhydrazyl (DPPH) assay.

Results: From bioassay-guided fractionation, 13 and 17 fractions were obtained from the methanol leaf and ethanol fruit extracts, respectively. In MTT assay, fractions 1, 2 and 4 from methanol extract showed the highest cytotoxic effect against the cancer cells with IC50 of 13.0 μg/mL at 48 h incubation. For the ethanol extract, fractions 14 and 15 showed the highest cytotoxic effect with IC50 of 12.0 μg/mL against K-562 cells, while fractions 13, 14 and 17 showed IC50 of 13.0 μg/mL against HeLa cells. Doxorubicin hydrochloride and vinblastine sulfate inhibited the cancer cells with IC50 range of 1.3 to 17.0 μg/mL. The highest radical scavenging activity was exhibited by fraction 2 from methanol extract with ED50 value of 0.10 mg/ml, while fraction 15 from ethanol extract showed ED50 of 0.79 mg/mL. Ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol exhibited radical scavenging activity of 95.0 ± 0.01 % (ED50 = 0.05 mg/mL) and 93.0 ± 0.01 % (ED50 = 0.10 mg/mL), respectively.

Conclusion: Solanum nigrum leaves and fruits are potential sources of cytotoxic and antioxidant agents.

Keywords: Solanum nigrum, Cytotoxic Activity, Anti-oxidant Activity, Bioassay-guided Fractionation, Doxorubicin, Vinblastine


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1596-9827
print ISSN: 1596-5996