Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International

Aim: The present study aims at the comparison of cytotoxic effect of methanolic extracts of leaves and stems of Clitoria ternatea (Fabaceae) by brine shrimp lethality assay.

Methodology: Dried leaves and stems were macerated with methanol separately and preliminary phytochemical screenings were carried out. Hatched brine shrimp nauplii were chosen for the assay. The effect was assessed by calculating % mortality of nauplii with different concentrations of the test extracts (1, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 μg/ml) and standard vincristine sulphate. All sets were performed in triplicate.

Results: The extracts of leaves and stems revealed to possess chiefly alkaloids, phenols and flavonoids. Both the extracts exhibited promising outcomes in dose dependant manner while significant responses in most of the doses were also calculated. Leaves were found to be more potent (LC₅₀ value of 276.29 µg/ml.) compared to the stems (LC₅₀ value of 322.95 µg/ml.). All the doses of the standard Vincristine sulphate were found to display significant activity compared to the control and was calculated to have LC₅₀ value of 11.75 µg/ml.

Conclusion: The methanolic extracts of leaves and stems have shown potential cytotoxicity against brine shrimp which were highly comparable with standard. Further work on isolation, characterization and tests on cell lines may lead to identification of active principles.