In Vitro Pharmacological Investigations of Petroleum Ether Fraction of Ficus Racemosa Leaves Extract

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate fraction of Ficus racemosa (Family: Moraceae) leaves extract.The powdered leaves of Ficus racemosa were extracted with methanol and then partitioned with DCM, petroleum ether,ethyl acetate, and aquous consecutively. The petroleum ether fraction was used to evaluate cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The cytoxic activity was measured by brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The antimicrobial activity was assessed by disc diffusion method. Ethyl acetate fraction showed cytotoxic activity with LC50value 23μg/ml in brine shrimp lethality test. In antimicrobial activity investigation the ethyl acetate fraction showed low to moderate antibacterial and antifungal activity against the tested organism compared to the azithromycin (22.9μg/disc) that was used as positive control. The fraction contained 40.01mg AAE/g of total phenolic content and 435mg AAE/g total flavonoid content. The results of study clearly indicate the presence of cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of petroleum ether extract. The obtained results provide a support for the use of this plant in traditional medicine and its further investigation.