PJB-2023-479
Phytochemical investigation, anti-bacterial and cytotoxic potential of Citrullus colocynthis fruit extracts
Syeda Aaliya Shehzadi
Abstract
Several medicinal plants are identified as therapeutic agents for the world’s most deadly disease cancer. A member of the "Cucurbitaceae" family of medicinal plants, Citrullus colocynthis (C. colocynthis) has various pharmacological actions. In the present study we have focused the phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial, and anticancer activity of fruit extracts of C. colocynthis. The chloroform, pure ethanolic and aq. ethanolic extracts of C. colocynthis whole fruit, peel and pulp separately have been investigated. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, phenols, saponins and glycosides in various parts of the fruit. Some compounds have been identified using GC-MS analysis by comparing with NIST library data. The antimicrobial activity of all extracts was checked by agar well diffusion method against five different bacterial strains such as A. baumannii, K. pneumonia, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and E. coli. The zone of inhibition (ZOI) ranged between 11 mm to 27 mm against different strains. The polar solvent extracts (ethanolic and aq. ethanolic extract) of peel showed good sensitivity against all bacterial strains as compared to non-polar solvent (chloroform extract), which showed activity only against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aroginosa. The cytotoxic activity of C. colocynthis all extracts against human brain cancer cells line (U-87) was assessed using MTT assay. The % cell viability of ethanolic (ET-PL), and aq. ethanolic extract of whole fruit and of pulp showed promising results. The cancerous cell line U-87 seem to be more sensitive towards polar solvents (ethanolic and aq. ethanolic) extracts of pulp than peel.
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