Cytotoxic Activity of Methanolic Extracts of Berberis aristata DC and Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. in MCF7 Cell Line

Objective: The present study was carried out to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxic activity of unexploited plants, stems of Berberis aristata DC, and rhizomes of Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. on MCF7 breast cancer cell line, which are indigenous to India.Materials & Methods: Different concentrations of the methanolic extracts of stems and rhizomes parts of the plant (1000, 500, 250, 125, 50, 25, 12.5 g/ml) were subjected to cytotoxic study against MCF7 breast cancer cell lines by Trypan blue dye exclusion technique. In addition, a phytochemical screening of the methanolic extracts was done.Results: The phytochemical screening demonstrated the presence of different types of compounds like flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, phenols and sterols. The maximum reducing power of the Berberis aristata DC and Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. extract at 680nm was found to be 0.9970.081 at 1000 g/ml and 0.9560.067 at 1000 g/ml respectively. The inhibition percentage with regard to cytotoxicity was found to be 89 % at 1000 μg/ml with IC50 value of 50+0.03 g/ml for Berberis aristata DC and 87 % at 1000 μg/ml with IC50 value of 48+0.02 g/ml for Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. respectively.Conclusion: The methanolic extracts of Berberis aristata DC, Hemidesmus indicus R.Br., are showing potent cytotoxic activity against MCF7 breast cancer cell line.