Characterization of chemical groups, and investigation of cytotoxic and antioxidant activity of Litsea glutinosa leaves

The present study was conducted to investigate possible phytochemicals, cytotoxic activity, total phenolic content and antioxidant property of different extracts of Litsea glutinosa leaves. To determine different pytochemicals, various standard group tests were done. For cytotoxicity test, brine shrimp lethality bioassay was carried out. To evaluate the antioxidant properties, some complementary test systems, namely DPPH free-radical scavenging assay and reducing power assay and determination of total phenolic content were conducted. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrate, flavonoid, saponin, gum, steroid, tannins and terpinoids. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, results showed that all the extracts possess significant (P˂0.05) activity when compared to the standard, Colchicine. Among the extracts, the n-hexane soluble fraction showed the highest activity (LC50 30.32±0.46µg/ml) which is very close to the standard (LC50 30.11±0.30µg/ml) used. In DPPH free radical scavenging test, IC50 value of the ethyl acetate extract was found fairly significant (9.68±0.15μg/ml) while compared to that of the reference standards ascorbic acid (1.82±0.15μg/ml). In reducing power assay, the maximum reducing capacity for the methanolic extract was found 257.67±4.04 at 200μg/ml while compared to standard ascorbic acid (356.33±5.68μg/ml). The total phenolic amount was also calculated as quite high in the ethyl acetate extract (69.00±0.58mg/g of gallic acid equivalent). Presence of significant antioxidant properties of different extracts would justify its traditional use. However, it would be interesting to investigate possible causes and their mechanisms responsible for the cytotoxic and antioxidant properties of the plant L. glutinosa.