Evaluation of antioxidant and cytotoxic potential of Artocarpus chama buch. seeds using in vitro models

Phytochemicals consisting of phenols and flavonoids possess antioxidant properties, which are useful to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS). The present study was conducted to evaluate antioxidant and cytotoxic potential of methanol extracts of seeds of Artocarpus chama Buch., using DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging assay, cupric reducing antioxidant capacity, reducing power antioxidant capacity, total antioxidant capacity, determination of total phenol and flavonoid contents and cytotoxic activity test using brine shrimp lethality bioassay. Preliminary phytochemical study revealed the presence of alkaloid and flavonoid in the extracts. The fraction showed significant antioxidant activities in the assay compared to the reference ascorbic acid in a dose dependent manner. In DPPH radical scavenging assay, the IC50 value of the crude methanol extract was 54. 29 μg/mL, whereas IC50 value for the reference ascorbic acid was 14. 56 μg/mL. Moreover, at 200 μg/mL extract concentration, profound total antioxidant activity (4373. 58 mg/g equivalent to ascorbic acid) was observed. Furthermore, extract showed good cupric reducing power and reducing power capability. In addition, significant amount of phenols and flavonoids content were obtained from the extract. The extract also displayed strong cytotoxic potential with LC50 value of 10. 41 μg/mL in brine shrimp lethality bioassay. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that significant antioxidant potential as well as cytotoxic potential of methanolic extract, might be due to the attributes of high amount of phenols and flavonoids present in the extract.