Antimicrobial, cytotoxic and thrombolytic activityof Cassia senna leaves (family: Fabaceae).

ABSTRACT

Cassia senna leaves belonging to the family Fabaceae have been investigated for the presence of its secondary metabolites and evaluation of biological activities of the crude extracts with special emphasis to the antimicrobial activity, cytotoxic activity and thrombolytic activity. The antimicrobial activities of n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate & methanolic extracts of C. senna leaves were screened against five gram(+) bacteria, eight gram(-) bacteria and three fungi by ‘disc diffusion method’. The methanol extract possesses no antimicrobial activity but chloroform and n-hexane fractions exhibited moderate to less activity against some organisms tested compared with the standard antibiotic Kanamycin. Brine shrimp lethality bio-assay was done using brine shrimp Nauplii and dimethyl sulfoxide as a solvent for the methanol extracts of C. senna. The LC50 value (1.5625) of methanol extract of the plant indicated that the cytotoxicity was very significant. The percentages found in thrombolytic tests are 41.46%, 53.22%, 33.33%, 4.08% and standard 92.85%. So, in comparison with standard, C. senna can be further use as mild thrombolytic agent.