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Cytotoxic activity screening of Bangladeshi medicinal plant extracts

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Abstract

The cytotoxic activity of 23 crude methanol extracts from 19 Bangladeshi medicinal plants was investigated against healthy mouse fibroblasts (NIH3T3), healthy monkey kidney (VERO) and four human cancer cell lines (gastric, AGS; colon, HT-29; and breast, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) using MTT assay. High cytotoxicity across all cell lines tested was exhibited by Aegiceras corniculatum (fruit) and Hymenodictyon excelsum (bark) extracts (IC50 values ranging from 0.0005 to 0.9980 and 0.08 to 0.44 mg/mL, respectively). Fourteen extracts from 11 plant species, namely Clitoria ternatea (flower and leaf), Dillenia indica (leaf), Diospyros peregrina (leaf), Dipterocarpus turbinatus (bark and leaf), Ecbolium viride (leaf), Glinus oppositifolius (whole plant), Gnaphalium luteoalbum (leaf), Jasminum sambac (leaf), Lannea coromandelica (bark and leaf), Mussaenda glabrata (leaf) and Saraca asoca (leaf), were also significantly cytotoxic (IC50 < 1.0 mg/mL) against at least one of the cancer cell lines tested. More selectively, Avicennia alba (leaf), C. ternatea (flower and leaf), Caesalpinia pulcherrima (leaf), E. viride (leaf) and G. oppositifolius (whole plant) showed cytotoxicity only against both of the breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). In contrast, C. ternatea (flower and leaf) exhibited high cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231 (IC50 values of 0.11 and 0.49 mg/mL, respectively), whereas E. viride and G. oppositifolius whole plant extracts exhibited high activity against MCF-7 cells (IC50 values of 0.06 and 0.15 mg/mL, respectively). The cytotoxic activity test results for 9 of the plant species correlate with their traditional use as anticancer agents, thus making them interesting sources for further drug development.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to Griffith University, Australia for providing a PhD scholarship to Raushanara Akter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy and Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Gold Coast, Queensland, 4222, Australia

    Raushanara Akter, Shaikh J. Uddin & Evelin Tiralongo

  2. Pharmacy Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, 9208, Bangladesh

    Shaikh J. Uddin

  3. Institute for Glycomics and School of Medical Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Gold Coast, Queensland, 4222, Australia

    I. Darren Grice

Authors
  1. Raushanara Akter
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  2. Shaikh J. Uddin
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  3. I. Darren Grice
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  4. Evelin Tiralongo
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Correspondence to Evelin Tiralongo.

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Akter, R., Uddin, S.J., Grice, I.D. et al. Cytotoxic activity screening of Bangladeshi medicinal plant extracts. J Nat Med 68, 246–252 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-013-0789-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-013-0789-5

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