Screening of biological activities of Cucumis sativus leaf, growing in Bangladesh

Abstract

The crude methanol extract of leaves of Cucumis sativus as well as its hexane, carbon tetrachloride and chloroform soluble partitionates were subjected to screening for antioxidant, cytotoxic, thrombolytic, membrane stabilizing and antimicrobial activities. In DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging assay, the hexane soluble fraction demonstrated the highest free radical scavenging activity (IC50= 3.11±0.45 µg/ml). The carbon tetrachloride soluble fraction revealed the highest cytotoxic activity with LC50 value of 1.84±0.31 I¼g/ml in brine shrimp lethality bioassay. In thrombolytic activity assay, the hexane soluble fraction showed 8.53±0.68% of clot lysis as compared to 66.77% clot lysis by standard streptokinase. The carbon tetrachloride soluble fraction at 1.0 mg/ml concentration inhibited 49.24±0.41% of haemolysis of RBCs induced by heat as compared to 42.12% by acetyl salicylic acid, respectively. In disc diffusion assay, none of the extractives of C. sativus revealed any zone of inhibition against the test organisms.