Determination of Cytotoxic Activity of Different Parts of Garcinia Cowa

Abstract

Medicinal plants are defined as feral and/or cultivated plants that, based on tradition and literature records, can be directly or indirectly used for medical purposes. The basis for this use is that these plants contain so called active ingredients (active principles or biologically active principles) that affect physiological (metabolic) processes of living organisms, including human beings. The plant Garcinia cowa has been used for the general promotion of health and longevity. It is used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. The bark is astringent; used in spasm. Fruits are given in headache. Sun-dried slices of the fruits are used in dysentery. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of the stem, bark and leaf of Garcinia cowa. Each samples were soaked in three different solvents (petroleum ether, dichloromethane and methanol). The brine shrimp lethality bioassay was performed to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of the Garcinia cowa. From this test, LC50 value of stem (109.95, 12.48, 70.63 μM), bark (110.23, 154.34, 17.09 μM) and leaf (48.73, 12.48, 30.19 μM) were calculated for petroleum ether, dicholoromethane and methanol solvents respectively. The R2 value were approximately stem (0.829, 0.7086, 0.9395), bark (0.9161, 0.8903, 0.8522) and leaf (0.9172, 0.8813, 0.9516). So, it is evident that the stem, bark and leaf of Garcinia cowa are mild to moderate cytotoxic as well as biologically active. This is only a preliminary study but the plant can be further screened against various diseases in order to find out its unexplored efficacy and can be a potential source of biologically important drug candidates. Still there are plenty of scopes to establish a variety of properties which can be significantly beneficial to mankind.