Phytochemical composition analysis and evaluation of in vitro medicinal properties and cytotoxicity of five wild weeds: A comparative study

Abstract

Background:Medicinal plants are a source of phytochemicals and they are used for the treatment of several oxidative stress-related or other diseases for their effectiveness, low toxicity and easy availability. Five traditionally used and less characterized herbaceous weeds of West Bengal, India, namely,Heliotropium indicum,Tridax procumbens,Cleome rutidosperma,Commelina benghalensisandEuphorbia hirta,were investigated for the current research study. Methods:Aqueous and 70% ethanolic extracts of the leaves were analyzed for estimation of essential phytochemicals and to evaluate theirin vitroantioxidant status, medicinal properties and cytotoxic effects. To the best of our knowledge, several assays and comparative evaluations using these herbs are reported for the first time. For quantitative study, UV-vis spectrophotometry and high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector HPLC-DAD techniques were used. Antibacterial properties were investigated using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Forin vitroanti-lithiatic study, a titration method was used. The cell viability assay was done using peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Results:The aqueous extract exhibits higher content of polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins and inhibition percentage values for freeradical scavenging assays, whereas the 70% ethanolic extract exhibits higher content of alkaloids and cardiac glycosides. HPLC-DAD analysis of 70% ethanolic extracts led us to identify 10 predominant phenolic constituents.Euphorbia hirtaextracts showed minimum cytotoxicity (cell death~2.5% and 4 %in water and 70% ethanolic extract, respectively), whereasCleome rutidospermaandTridax procumbens’70% ethanolic extracts showed higher cell death (~13% and 28%, respectively), compared with the control (cell death ~10-12%). Conclusions:The study concluded that of all the medicinal weeds selected for the current study,Euphorbia hirtapossesses the highest amount of bioactive compounds and hence exhibits the highestin vitroantioxidant activity and promisingin vitromedicinal properties.