Abstract

SCREENING OF IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT, CYTOTOXIC AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF BELAMCANDA CHINENSIS AERIAL PART

Md. Imran Jahan*, Israt Jahan Mim, Sharmin Akter Bristy, Kanchi Akter lima, Saiful Islam, Md. Feroze Mahmud, Nishat Angum, Tania Jahan, Sydur Rahman Sabuz, Md. Yakub Hossain and Md. Mehdi Hasan

.

Abstract

The utilization of medicinal plants to treat infectious disease is a common practice in developing countries worldwide. The present study was aimed at evaluating the crude extracts of Belamcanda chinensis (Aerial parts) with different chemicals for antioxidant and antimicrobial (fungal and bacterial) potential. All the partitionates were also subjected to Brine Shrimp lethality bioassay for possible cytotoxic action. In this study, methanol and ethyl acetate soluble fractions were found to be highly toxic to Brine Shrimp nauplii, with LC50 of 16.218μg/ml and 0.048μg/ml respectively while the LC50 of the reference anticancer drug tamoxifen BP 20mg was 0.003μg/ml. All fractions produced concentration dependent increment in percent mortality of Brine Shrimp nauplii indicating the presence of cytotoxic principles in these extractives. Antimicrobial activity of leaves of Belamcanda chinensis at a concentration of 0.01mg/10ml with solvent ethanol. Tectorigenin (present in very little content in aerial parts) was found to have strong antifungal activity against dermatophytes of the genera Trichophyton with MIC ranging from 3.12-6.25ml. These results also lend support to the relevant phytochemical and pharmacological works carried out so far on Belamcanda chinensis. However, further studies are suggested to be undertaken to understand the underlying mechanism of the observed activities and to isolate, purify and characterise active phytochemical ingredient(s) responsible for these bioactivities in animal models.

Keywords: Ethnobotany, cytotoxic, Belamcanda chinensis, Tectorigenin.