PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY AND EVALUATON OF THE HEPATOPROTECTIVE AND ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITIES OF THE AERIAL PART EXTRACT OF JUSTICIA TRANQUEBARIENSIS LINN. USING HEPG2 CELL LINE STUDIES

The present study was undertaken to the evaluate hytochemical constituents and evaluate the hepatoprotective and anticancer potential of the aerial parts of Justicia tranquebariensis Linn. The aerial parts of the plant were collected from Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, authenticated, dried, powdered, and subjected to successive Soxhlet extraction using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and ethanol. Pharmacognostical evaluation and preliminary phytochemical screening were carried out to identify the major classes of bioactive constituents. The extracts were further subjected to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis for identification of chemical constituents. The phytochemical investigation indicated the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, lignans, glycosides, phytosterols, proteins and other bioactive constituents. GC-MS analysis identified 3 compounds in the petroleum ether extract, 12 compounds in the ethyl acetate extract, and 2 compounds in the ethanol extract. The anticancer potential was evaluated in vitro using the HepG2 human liver carcinoma cell line by the MTT cytotoxicity assay. The ethanol extract exhibited cytotoxic activity against HepG2 cells with an IC₅₀ value of 155.52 µg/mL. The observed activity may be associated with bioactive compounds identified by GC-MS, including piperidine, 1-(2-chloro-4-nitrobenzoyl)-4-methyl- and 1,3,5,7-tetraethylbicyclo[3.3.1]tetrasiloxane. Overall, the findings suggest that the aerial parts of Justicia tranquebariensis contain potentially bioactive phytoconstituents and may serve as a promising source for further investigation in hepatoprotective and anticancer drug research. Further studies are required to establish the mechanism of action and validate the therapeutic potential of the plant extract.