COMPARATIVE ANTIOXIDANT STUDIES AND CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITIES OF THE METHANOL EXTRACT AND FRACTIONS OF JATROPHA TANJORENSIS LEAF, STEM AND ROOT

Abstract

Jatropha tanjorensis commonly called ?catholic vegetable? is a tropical plant of the Euphorbiaceae family. The present study is designed to investigate and compare the antioxidant, anti proliferative and apoptotic activities of the leaves, stem and root of the plant. Phytochemical constituents and quantitative parameters of the powdered plant samples were done according to standard methods. The methanol extracts of the plant parts were fractionated with petroleum ether, chloroform and ethyl acetate. The antioxidant activities of the extracts and fractions were evaluated using the 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method. The effect of the extracts and fractions on cell viability was evaluated by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay. The anti proliferative and apoptotic effects of the extracts and fractions (50 ?g/mL) on human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) were investigated by flow cytometry. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of carbohydrates, phenolics and flavonoids in the leaves, stem and root. The plant exhibited good radical scavenging activity with the chloroform fractions being the most effective with IC50 values of 111.72, 70.20 and 103.56 ?g/mL for leaves, stem and root respectively. The MTS assay and cell cycle analysis showed no significant difference in MCF-7 cell viability, proliferation and apoptosis in treated group compared to the control (P > 0.05). The present study therefore revealed that Jatropha tanjorensis especially the stem and root hold potential for use as natural plant antioxidant in protecting against free radical damage