In Vitro pharmacological investigations of dichloromethane fraction of Opuntia elatior

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the cytotoxic and antioxidant activity of dichloromethane fraction of Opuntia elatior (Family: Cactaceae) extract.

The powdered of Opuntia elatior were extracted with methanol and then partitioned with pet-ether, DMSO, ethyl acetate and crude fraction was taken for experiment. The aqueous fraction was used to evaluate cytotoxic and antioxidant activities. The cytotoxic activity was measured by brine shrimp lethality bioassay. LC50 value of aqueous fraction of Opuntia elatior was 12.5µg/ml in brine shrimp lethality test. The fraction contained 16.47 mg AAE/g of total phenolic content, 68.1 mg AAE/g of total reducing power content and 35.88 mg AAE/g total flavonoid content. The results of study clearly indicate the presence of cytotoxic and poor antioxidant properties of dichloromethane extract. The obtained results provide a support for the use of this plant in traditional medicine and its further investigation.