ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS FROM PICRORHIZA KURROA AND ITS IN-VITRO ANTICANCER ACTIVITY

Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth.from the Scrophulariaceae family is an important medicinal plant used in different formulations of herbal drugs that have hepatoprotective activity.Because of the presence of iridoid glycosides, such as picroside-I and picroside-II in underground part.According to the ethnopharmacological relevance Iridoid glycosides have been linked to decreased cancer risks, such as hepatocarcinoma.While Picrorrhiza kurroa has shown anti-hepatocarcinogenesis activity, its mechanism of action is poorly understood, the anticancer activity of iridoid glycosides present in this plant has not yet been tested so far.The anti-neoplastic activities of ethanolic extracts of P. kurroa rhizome and its isolated iridoid glycosides Picroside I and Picroside II were investigated in the present study.These compounds was identified by a spectrophotometric method.Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested by Brine shrimp lethality bioassay, Trypan blue exclusion assay and MTT assay.Here, Hep G2 cell lines (Human hepatocellular carcinoma), Colo 205 (Human colon cancer), Normal cell line (L929) were used to test whether P. Kurroa extract and its isolated iridoid glycosides Picroside I and Picroside II exerts the anticancer activity.The study showed that P. Kurroa extract and its isolated iridoid glycosides Picroside I and Picroside II exhibited considerable cytotoxic potential in dose-dependent manner and were able to target