Phytochemical screening and pharmacological benefits of Parthenium hysterophorus L.: In vitro anticancer cell line evaluation

This study explores the phytochemical profile and anticancer potential of vegetative aerial Parthenium hysterophorus L., (PHv) powder extracts using supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SC-CO 2 ).Objectives include optimizing extraction, fractionating crude extracts, identifying parthenin, viz., TLC and HPLC, and evaluating test drug doses on MCF-7, HeLa, and HepG2 cancer cell lines.The extraction efficiencies ranged from 83.64% to 94.50%, with the highest yield (94.50%) achieved at 200 bar and 60C.This yield was significantly higher than the Soxhlet extraction efficiency, which was 46.30%.Analysis of variance showed a significant effect of pressure levels on SC-CO 2 extraction efficiency (F = 8040.23>Fcrit = 5.14, p< 0.01).Phytochemical screening in ethanol fractions exposed a high presence of flavonoids, phenols, tannins, alkaloids, and terpenoids, particularly in T 3 , and moderate levels in T 1 , and T 0 .Parthenin, identified in the ethanol fractions of PHv extract through TLC and validated by HPLC.The optimized ethanol fraction (T 3 ) test drug from PHv powder extract, demonstrated dose-dependent inhibition in MTT assays, with inhibition rates of 67.34% (MCF-7), 57.88% (HeLa), and 65.16% (HepG2) at 100 g/ml concentrations.The quadratic regression model indicated that drug dose (A), cancer cell lines (B), and their interactions (AB) significantly influenced cell inhibition and viability, with F 8,18 value of 1805.39,p<0.05.The findings presented here bolster the case for PHv powder extracts potential as a naturally derived cancer fighting substance, highlighting the need for additional in vivo experiments and investigations into its mode of action.