Investigation of In-vitro Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activity of Blumea lacera (Burm.f.) DC. Leaf Chloroform Extract

Blumea lacera (family: Asteraceae) is a very potent plant for its various therapeutic properties. Studies show that Blumea lacera plant has important anti-inflammatory, analgesic, hypothermic, tranquilizing, anti-leukemic, antiviral, cytotoxic, anti-diarrheal, antimicrobial, anxiolytic, anti-atherothrombosis, cell stabilizing, alpha-amylase inhibitory, anthelmintic and astringent activity. Therefore, this research was intended to detect the existence of antioxidant activity using two in-vitro techniques -DPPH free radical scavenging assay, total phenolic content (TPC) and investigation of its cytotoxicity on HeLa (human cervical cancer) cell lines. Firstly, DPPH free radical scavenging assay showed 86.43% of inhibition of free radicals at 1200 µg/mL of the extract with IC50 of 2.39 µg/mL for the plant extract, which indicated that the extract had strong antioxidant activity. Highest total phenolic content (TPC) was found to be 285.47 mg of GAE/g at 1200µg/mL of extract showing the presence of high antioxidant potential. Cytotoxic activity was measured using in-vitro MTT assay against HeLa cell lines and that showed IC50 of 3.462 mg/mL for the extract exhibiting low cytotoxic activity. As the results indicate that Blumea lacera has strong antioxidant potential as well as low cytotoxic activity, therefore, leaf extract this plant may be beneficial to treat various diseases.