Cytotoxicity evaluation of two species from Caesalpinia genus

ABSTRACT

One of the important effects of medicinal plants is cytotoxic effect using to treat different tumors and neoplasms. A number of Caesalpinia species have previously been investigated for their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, antitumor, lowering blood pressure, immunosuppressant and antioxidant effects. Cytotoxicity evaluation of Caesalpinia gilliesii [Hook.] D.Dietr. and Caesalpinia bonduc [L.] Roxb. The plants were collected from Sistan and Baluchestan region and then were identified. Brine shrimp lethality bioassay was carried out to investigate the Cytotoxicity of total extracts of plants. Extracts giving LC[50] values lower than 30 micro g/ml were considered to be cytotoxic. Chloroform fractions of methanol extract of cytotoxic plants were also subjected to brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The extracts of C. gilliesii showed moderate Cytotoxicity against brine shrimp [LC[50] between 30 and 50 mirco g/ml]. Different parts of C. bonduc showed different Cytotoxicity and the legume of this species had potent cytotoxic effect. Chloroform fraction of legume of C. bonduc showed lower Cytotoxicity than methanol extract of it. Legume of C bonduc showed potent cytotoxic effect and it could be potential sources for novel anticancer compounds. This study provides useful data for the elaborated cytotoxic bioassays with cancer cell lines