Investigation of in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of Lagerstroemia thorelli leaf extract

Abstract

Lagerstroemia thorelli belongs to the Lythraceae family and is natively known as choto jarul. This study was undertaken to identify the antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of this plant since no previous reports on its bioactivities were found in a thorough literature search. Antioxidant potential was evaluated using H2O2 scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assays. Cytotoxicity was determined using MTT assay against cervical cancer cell line, HeLa. This plant extract demonstrated strong H2O2 scavenging activity with an IC50 of 2.22 μg/mL, which was close to that of standard ascorbic acid (IC50 =2.84 μg/mL). The TAC was 98.19 ± 3.864 mg AAE/g of dry extract at the highest concentration, 1200 μg/mL. However, the cytotoxicity study on HeLa cell line revealed low cytotoxic activity due to cell line characteristics. Thus, Lagerstreomia thorelli can be used in the treatment of free radical induced diseases due to possessing strong antioxidant activity