Antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity studies of Russelia equisetiformis

In the present study of Russelia equisetiformis belonging to the family scrophulariaceae, leaves were evaluated for antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity studies. The leaves were extracted with absolute methanol and further fractionated by solvent-solvent extraction method with increasing polarity based absolute solvents, that is, n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The qualitative analysis of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, steroids and terpenoids were carried out. The total phenolics and flavonoids content were analyzed by spectroscopic technique. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging and linoleic acid oxidation assays were carried out. The inhibitory concentration (IC50) and percentage inhibition by linoleic acid oxidation was found to be in the range of 9.96 to 89.79 and 39.46 to 90.69, respectively. The antioxidant activity was also studied to evaluate the protective effect of plant by H2O2 induced oxidative damage in plasmid pBR322 DNA and found that it protected the DNA. The potential of the extract and fractions against selected bacterial (Pasturella multocida, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and fungal strains (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Alternaria alternate and Rhizopus solani) was evaluated in the present study. The plant extract and fractions were assayed against human red blood cells (RBCs) and the percentage lysis was found to be in the range of 1.89 to 4.96 %.