Evaluation of cytotoxicity in selected species of Caralluma and Boucerosia

Caralluma and Boucerosia are xerophytic succulent genus of Asclepiadaceae, with distribution in America, Africa, Asia, South Africa and North Western Europe. The present study was carried out on cytotoxicity of methanolic extracts of four species of Caralluma CAA, CAF, CS, CSL and two species of Boucerosia BL and BU by brine shrimp lethality assay for preliminary screening of toxicity. All the six species have shown variability in their ED50 values. ED50 means 50 % mortality observed in brine shrimps. ED50 value of positive control podophyllotoxin was 4.01. The extract showing the lowest ED50 value was BU (39.95 μg/ml) followed by CAF (40.64 μg/ml) and CAA (42.46 μg/ml) were significantly active and had potential for further study. Cytotoxicity screening methods provided important preliminary data to select plant extracts with potential antineoplastic properties.

Author(s): Vajha M and Krishna CSR

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