PHYTOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND CYTOTOXIC EVALUATION OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF GARCINIA INDICA FRUIT RIND

Natural products from plants are rich sources of chemical diversity and most of the pharmacologically active principles currently used as drugs, including anticancer agents are plant products. The present study aims at phytochemical screening and evaluation of the anticancer potential of methanolic extract of Garcinia indica fruit rinds belonging to Family Clusiaceae. The methanolic extract of dried Fruit rinds of Garcinia indica was subjected to the phytochemical tests to confirm the presence of Carbohydrate, alkaloids, steroids, Glycosides, flavonoids, Tannic acid and phenolic compounds, proteins, and fixed oils. In-vitro antioxidant activity of the extract was assayed using DPPH radical scavenging assay, hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, reducing power activity. Total phenol and flavonoid contents were determined and expressed in gallic acid and catechin equivalent respectively. The results of the study indicate that the methanolic extracts of the Garcinia indica fruit rind possess significant scavenging activity against DPPH (78.1 μg/ml), reducing power activity (0.387 absorbances at 100 μg/ml) free radical scavenging activity (44.64 μg/ml). The free radical scavenging and promising antioxidant activities of the extract may be attributed to the presence of adequate phenolic (0.34 mg/gm) and flavonoid compounds (134.32 μg/g).Cytotoxic activity was assayed in-vitro against HCT-116 by using MTT colorimetric procedure. From the analysis, it was found that methanolic fruit rind extract of Garcinia indica showed nearly 50% HCT-116 cell line inhibition at 53.8 μg/ml. Therefore, it can be concluded that the present study could be extended for the formulation and evaluation of herbal anticancer dosage forms.