Quantification of various metals and cytotoxic profile of aerial parts of Polygonatum verticillatum.

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to ascertain the concentration of various micronutrients using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and macronutrients using flame photometry and evaluation of cytotoxicity of the aerial parts of the Polygonatum verticillatum. Based on the results, the crude extract and its various fractions contained marked concentrations of both micronutrients and macronutrients. The predominant micronutrients were Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Cr and Ni. It was noticeable that Ni concentration in hexane (1.80 ppm) and ethyl acetate (2.40 ppm) fractions were beyond the permissible limit (1.5 ppm) for plants and Zn concentration in butanol fraction (60 ppm) was also beyond the permissible limit for plants (50 ppm). Outstanding concentrations of macronutrients were possessed by all solvent fractions with Ca, Na and K ranges from 100–220 ppm, 120-560 ppm and 2500–3400 ppm respectively. There was no sign of brine shrimp cytotoxicity except in the chloroform fraction (LD50 was 1205.07 μg/mL). It is concluded that the aerial parts of the plant could be a significant source of micro and macro nutrients without significant cytotoxicity and thus this study validated the folkloric use of the plant as a tonic and energizer.