Methanol and dichloromethane extracts of Hippeastrum equestre plant bulbs have been evaluated for antioxidant activity (using DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assay) and cytotoxic potential (using the brine shrimp lethality assay and MTT assay), where MTT assay was performed against human cervical cancer (HeLa) and human prostate cancer (PC3) cell lines. The extracts were prepared by simple maceration of plant material. Both extracts were also investigated for the qualitative and quantitative composition of phytochemical constituents. Qualitative phytochemical screening of plant extracts revealed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, tannins, phenols, saponins, terpenoids, proteins and amino acids. Total alkaloid content in methanol and dichloromethane extracts were highest (125.17 ± 0.02 and 114.48 ± 0.01 mg atropine eq./g extract, respectively) as compared to total flavonoid and phenol contents (61.17 ± 0.027, 43.09 ± 0.05 mg rutin eq./g extract and 40.37 ± 0.022, 27.74 ± 0.02 mg gallic acid eq. /g extract, respectively). The plant extracts showed significant % inhibition of DPPH radical as well as ABTS radical activity and the results were comparable with that of standard. Results of the brine shrimp lethality assay indicated that at a dose of 1000 μg/mL, both methanol and dichloromethane extracts showed high percentage mortality (100% and 86.6%, respectively). The MTT assay showed that at 30 mg/mL dichloromethane and methanol extracts of the plant bulbs exhibited cytotoxic activity against PC3 and HeLa cell lines (69.97, 79.66% and 80, 89%) with IC50 values of 20.29, 16.70 and 13.78, 12.96 μg/mL respectively.
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Shahzad, A., Afzal, S. & Ahmad, I. Spectrophotometric Quantification of Total Phenol, Flavonoid and Alkaloid Content and In-Vitro Investigation of Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Potential of Hippeastrum equestre Bulbs. Pharm Chem J 56, 1263–1271 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11094-022-02784-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11094-022-02784-y