Validation of antioxidant activity and cytotoxic potential of Protium caudatum leaves extract against lung cancer cell line (A549)

Abstract

Antioxidants play key role in health modulatory effects. Intake of antioxidants improves immunity which works against free radicals. In the study, the fractionated alcoholic extract of Protium caudatum leaves was subjected to phytochemical screening, estimation of phenolics and flavonoid content, anti-oxidant activity and cytotoxicity activity against lung cancer cells (A549 cells). The ethanolic extract of P.caudatum has high antioxidant efficiency through DPPH and ABTS assay and L-ascorbic acid was used as standard. The cytotoxicity analysis was performed with MTT assay against lung cancer cell line (A549 cells). The phytochemical screening test shows the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids, flavonoids and tannins. Total phenolic and flavonoid content of P. caudatum exhibited 20μg/g and 15μg/g respectively. The DPPH and ABTS showed the IC50 values such as 38.50 ± 0.01 μg/ml and 24.34 ± 0.03 μg/ml for sample and 13.5 ± 0.02 μg/ml and 11.3 ± 0.1 μg/ml for standard respectively. Cytotoxicity in MTT analysis of Protium caudatum leaves revealed the IC50 value as 63 ± 0.05 μg/ml against A549 cell line with standard 5 fluorouracil. With this significant inference ethanolic fraction of P. caudatum shows the potent antioxidant and cytotoxic activity paving the way to identify the active phytoconstituents and mode of action of the molecules to be studied.