Characterization of phytochemicals and determination of antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties of the medicinal plant Ardisia solanacea

The present study was conducted to detect possible phytochemicals and evaluate antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of the extract of Ardisia solanacea. Phytochemical screening was carried out using the standard test methods of different chemical group. For investigating the antioxidant activity, two complementary test methods namely DPPH free radical scavenging assay and total phenolic content determination were carried out. For the evaluation of in vitro antimicrobial activity, disc diffusion method was used. Evaluation of cytotoxic activity was done using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay. In DPPH free radical scavenging test, the petroleum ether soluble fraction showed the highest free radical scavenging activity with IC50 value 40.04 μg/ml. while compared to that of the reference standards ascorbic acid. Ardisia solanacea was also found as a good source of total phenolic contents. Moreover, the extracts revealed moderate antimicrobial activity at the concentration of 400 μg/disc. In cytotoxic activity test, the petroleum ether soluble fraction showed significant cytotoxic potential (LC50 value of 0.703 μg/ml) among all the fractions comparing with that of standard vincristine (0.544 μg/ml). Therefore, further studies are suggested to determine the active compounds responsible for the pharmacological activities of the plant extracts.