Antibacterial, Cytotoxic and Antioxidant Activity of Chloroform, n-hexane and Ethyl Acetate extract of plant Amaranthus spinosus

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to find out the antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of chloroform , n-hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of Amaranthus spinosus (family: Amaranthaceae). Disc diffusion technique was used for in vitro antibacterial screening against gram positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. In case of Amaranthus spinosus all extracts showed good antibacterial activity against both gram positive and gram negative & average zone of inhibition 8-15mm. The Brine shrimp lethality bioassay method was used to determine the cytotoxicity activities and Vincristine Sulphate was used as positive control. The LC50 values of standard vincristine sulphate, chloroform, n-hexane and ethyl acetate extract were 7.55 µg/ml, 18.15 µg/ml, 29.51 µg/ml & 18.15 µg/ml respectively for the Amaranthus spinosus. Antioxidant activity test of the crude extracts were assessed by means of DPPH free radical scavenging method where Ascorbic Acid was used as standard whose IC 50 value was 43.22µg/ml. All the fractions of Amaranthus spinosus showed potent Antioxidant activity, of which the ethyl acetate extract fractions demonstrated the good Antioxidant activity with IC50 value of 53.68 µg/ml.