Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxic effect and antioxidant activity of bioassay-guided fractions from
Malaysian species of
Solanum nigrum
.
Methods: Methanol leaf and ethanol fruit extracts of
Solanum nigrum were subjected to bioassayguided
fractionation using column chromatography. The semi-purified fractions were investigated for
their
in vitro cytotoxic effect against various cancer cell lines using 3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-
diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, and for antioxidant activity using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-
picryhydrazyl (DPPH) assay.
Results: From bioassay-guided fractionation, 13 and 17 fractions were obtained from the methanol leaf
and ethanol fruit extracts, respectively. In MTT assay, fractions 1, 2 and 4 from methanol extract
showed the highest cytotoxic effect against the cancer cells with IC
50 of 13.0 μg/mL at 48 h incubation.
For the ethanol extract, fractions 14 and 15 showed the highest cytotoxic effect with IC
50 of 12.0 μg/mL
against K-562 cells, while fractions 13, 14 and 17 showed IC
50 of 13.0 μg/mL against HeLa cells.
Doxorubicin hydrochloride and vinblastine sulfate inhibited the cancer cells with IC
50 range of 1.3 to 17.0
μg/mL. The highest radical scavenging activity was exhibited by fraction 2 from methanol extract with
ED
50 value of 0.10 mg/ml, while fraction 15 from ethanol extract showed ED
50 of 0.79 mg/mL. Ascorbic
acid and α-tocopherol exhibited radical scavenging activity of 95.0 ± 0.01 % (ED
50 = 0.05 mg/mL) and
93.0 ± 0.01 % (ED
50 = 0.10 mg/mL), respectively.
Conclusion: Solanum nigrum leaves and fruits are potential sources of cytotoxic and antioxidant
agents.
