Cytotoxic evaluation and phytochemical screening of an ethnomedicinal plant: Pterospermum rubiginosum from southern Western Ghats

Abstract

Pterospermum rubiginosum is an evergreen tree belonging to the family Sterculiaceae, different solvents like hexane, chloroform, acetone, and carbinol were used for sequential soxhlet extraction of air dried powdered bark, the obtained extracts stored at desiccators for phytochemical screening. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, and phenolic acids. The main objective of this article is to evaluate the different phytochemicals present in bark extracts for further detailed study and to enable proper documentation for conserving our traditional knowledge about endemic medicinal plants for the future generations. HPTLC fingerprint analysis of Pterospermum rubiginosum bark extract showed the presence of tannins, its derivatives and gallic acid. The cell viability of both methanolic and aqueous extracts was evaluated by MTT assay against lung fibroblast (L929) cell line and LC50 Value were found to be 150.32µg/mL and 135.17µg/mL for PRAQ and PRME respectively.