Abstract
Commelina diffusa Burm. F. is a herbaceous tropical plant with different traditional medicinal uses. Present study is aimed to isolate the bioactive compounds from DCM-Methanol extract of the powdered whole plant of Commelina diffusa and to investigate the cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the crude extract and its twelve vacuum liquid chromatographic fraction (CD1-12). Vacuum Liquid Chromatography (VLC) was employed to isolate bioactive metabolites. The physicochemical properties of the isolated compound were examined and the molecular structure was elucidated by NMR spectroscopy. Cytotoxic, antibacterial, antioxidant activities were evaluated following brine shrimp lethality bioassay, disc diffusion method and DPPH free radical scavenging assay respectively. The isolated compound was identified as steroid (stigmasterol) which had significant cytotoxic effect on vero cell line. The crude extract and its fractions (CD8-CD12) exhibited strong cytotoxicity in brine shrimp lethality bioassay having LC50 values 3.79, 9.19, 29.49, 16.60, 19.36, 44.58 μg/mL respectively. The crude extract showed mild to strong antibacterial activity. Fractions (CD5-CD12) showed mild to strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli in comparison with Kanamycin (standard). Strong antioxidant activities were found in crude extract (IC50 value 30.52 μg/ml), CD11 (IC50 value 39.27 μg/ml) and CD12 (IC50 value 19.50 μg/ml). The study suggests Commelina diffusa plant extract to have strong antioxidant and cytotoxic activity which is indicative of presence of compounds with broad spectrum of curative applications. One compound namely stigmasterol has been isolated from the plant.
Highlights
A remarkable number of potent drugs have been isolated from natural sources such as plants, which are well established in their use as traditional medicine [1]
Vero cells were incubated with varying concentration of stigmasterol (0.0, 1.0, 5.0, 15.0, 20.0 μM) and 0.6% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was used as control
Based on these results it can be concluded that the crude extract and its fractions possess significant antioxidant and cytotoxic activity that after rigorous higher and specific tests can be proved to be beneficial for use in humans
Summary
A remarkable number of potent drugs have been isolated from natural sources such as plants, which are well established in their use as traditional medicine [1]. Molecules derived from natural sources have played a dominant role in the discovery of lead compounds for various diseases because of the unmatched availability of chemical modification. Research studies leading to extraction, isolation, identification, purification and biological study of the plant constituents have been the major field of study. Modern pharmacopoeia estimated that at least 25% drugs derived from plants and others are synthetic analogues built on prototype compounds. World Health Organization (WHO) assumed that 80% of the population relies on traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, for their primary health care needs [3]
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