Abstract

EVALUATION OF THE CYTOTOXIC, ANTIMICROBIAL, ANTIOXIDANT, ANTHELMINTIC AND CNS DEPRESSANT ACTIVITIES OF MANILKARA ZAPOTA LEAF (SAPOTACEAE)

Amlan Ganguly and S.M Abdur Rahman*

Abstract

Manilkara zapota (Sapotaceae) is an important medicinal plant having application in cancer, oxidative stress, infectious diseases and various other disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anthelmintic and CNS depressant properties of the leaf of M. zapota. The leaf part of the plant M. zapota was dried, extracted using ethanol and was partitioned into different fractions. The ethanolic extract and ethyl acetate fraction showed significant cytotoxicity with LC50 value of 1.92 μg/ml and 5.04 μg/ml respectively compared to the value obtained by standard vincristine sulfate (LC50 0.544 μg/ml) in brine shrimp lethality bioassay. Antimicrobial screening by disc diffusion method showed that, the crude extract and ethyl acetate fraction had mild inhibitory effects (zone of inhibition is 10-11 mm) against some gram (+) and gram (-) strain of bacteria and fungi. In DPPH free radical scavenging assay, the ethyl acetate fraction exhibited potent antioxidant activity with IC50 value of 8.28 μg/ml. The ethanolic extract also had good free radical scavenging ability (IC50 32.16 μg/ml) compared to that obtained by standard Butylated hydroxyl toluene (IC50 15.46 μg/ml). The extract didn’t possess any kind of anthelmintic property against adult earthworm Pheretima posthuma. The ethanolic extract of M. zapota also showed mild CNS depressant activity by prolonging duration of sleeping time. The findings of the studies demonstrated potent cytotoxic, antioxidant, antimicrobial and mild CNS depressant potential of the leaves of M. zapota which could be the therapeutic option against cancer, tumor, oxidative stress and infectious diseases.

Keywords: Manilkara zapota, Brine shrimp lethality bioassay, DPPH free radical scavenging, Disc diffusion.