ANTIOXIDANT, ANTIMICROBIAL AND CYTOTOXIC PROPERTY OF MELIANTHUS MAJOR LEAVES

Dried and powdered leaves Melianthus major was extracted with various solvents such as petroleum ether, chloroform, Ethyl acetate, and methanol. Petroleum ether and residual methanolic fraction showed radical inhibitory activity with IC50 values 231.25 μg/ml and 187.5 μg/ml respectively, where as other two fractions did not show any significant activity even at 1000 μg/ml concentration. Petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and residual methanolic fractions showed significant free radical+ scavenging activity with IC50 values of 28.08 μg/ml, 52.21 μg/ml and 4.48 μg/ml respectively while the known antioxidant Ascorbic acid and Rutin exhibited IC50 values of 54.17±9.27 and 43.6 ± 1.79 μg/ml. None of the extracts showed antimicrobial activity even at 1000μg/ml except chloroform extract for Aspergillus flavous at 500 μg/ml. All the extracts exhibited CTC50 values ranging from 219.5 -579 μg/ml against Hep - 2 ( Human epithelial larynx carcinoma cells) cell lines and from 72.5 - 150 μg/ml against DLA cells.