Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality with a huge socio-economic burden. A blend of
intrinsic and extrinsic factors is involved in the pathology and progression of various cancers. Stress is
an initiator of chronic illness and can trigger pro-oncogenes to oncogenes. Polyphenols such as
flavonoids and tannins are the known antioxidants to thrash out free radical associated stress. Natural
medicine such as nutraceuticals is refurbishing to reach the basic health requirements and for the
management of lifestyle disorders. The present investigation is aimed to evaluate the total phenolic,
flavonoid and tannin content, antioxidant activity of Dracaena reflexa Lam. leaves.
Total phenolic content was estimated by Folin–Ciocalteu colorimetric method taking gallic acid as
standard. Whereas, total flavonoid content was determined by AlCl3 colorimetric assay using
Quercetin as standard. The absorbance was measured at 765?nm, 415 nm and 500?nm respectively.
Antioxidant activity was measured by DPPH and NO free radical scavenging assay using standard
protocols, taking ascorbic acid as a reference. The cytotoxicity was assessed through MTT assay
using cancer cell lines such as Cervical cancer-Hela, Ovarian cancer- SKOV3, Breast cancerMDAMB231, Pancreatic cancer-Panc-1, Prostate cancer-PC3, Murine melanoma-B16F10 and
embryonic lung epithelial cell- L 132 by comparing with Doxorubicin.
From the results, the phytochemical analysis revealed that D. reflexa is having total phenols
(54±0.67mgGAE/gm), total flavonoids (54±0.67mgQE/gm) and total tannins
(187.3±1.24mgTAE/gm) with potent antioxidant activity (DPPH assay IC50 = 45.5; NO free radical
scavenging assay IC50 = 27.99). The extract was found to inhibit the proliferation of prostate cancer
(PC-3) cells (9.84±1.12?M) effectively followed by Ovarian cancer (SKOV3; 14.02±2.23?M), Breast
cancer (MDAMB231; 14.85±1.16?M) and Pancreatic cancer (Panc-1; 17.08±1.34?M).
The phytochemicals present in the extracts such as alkaloids, carbohydrates, phenols, saponins,
especially tannins and flavonoids, either alone or synergistically may contribute to the reported
antioxidant and cytotoxic activities.
Keywords: Dracaena reflexa Lam, antioxidant, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content,
total tannin content, DPPH assay, NO free radical scavenging assay, MTT assay
Publication date: 25/09/2021
https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2021/September/MS_IJBPAS_2021_SEPT_SPCL_1054.pdf
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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2021/10.9.1054
