Communication · Volume 8, Issue 3 · pp. 209-212

Evaluating the Anticancer Potential of Ethanolic Gall Extract of Terminalia chebula (Gaertn.) Retz. (Combretaceae)

B. E. Ravi Shankara¹, Y. L. Ramachandra², S. Sundara Rajan², P. S. Sujan Ganapathy³, Nagendra Sastry Yarla⁴, S. A. Richard⁵, Bhadrapura Lakkappa Dhananjaya⁶

¹Department of Chemistry, School of Graduate Studies, Jain University, 2Research Unit in Vrukshayurveda, A Division of Centre for Advanced Studies in Biosciences, Jain University, Chamrajpet, Bengaluru, 3Department of PG Studies and Research in Biotechnology, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta
²Department of PG Studies and Research in Biotechnology, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta
³Research Unit in Vrukshayurveda, A Division of Centre for Advanced Studies in Biosciences, Jain University, Chamrajpet, Bengaluru
⁴Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Science, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
⁵Department of Biochemistry, University of Mysore, Mysore
⁶Toxinology/Toxicology and Drug Discovery Unit, Centre for Emerging Technologies, Jain University, Ramanagara, Karnataka

Abstract

Plants have been an important source for discovery of anticancer compounds. With the current decline in the number of new molecular entities from the pharmaceutical industry, novel anticancer agents are being sought from traditional medicines; therefore the anticancer efficacy of many plants that are used in traditional medicine is yet to be verified. The objective of the study was to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of ethanolic leaf gall extract of Terminalia chebula are evaluated against buffalo rat liver 3A, MCF-7 (Human mammary gland adenocarcinoma) and A-549 (Human lung cancer) cell lines. The cytotoxic effect of the ethanolic extract was evaluated by MTT assay. The extract was potent and effective in inducing cytotoxic effects in all the cell lines with an IC50 value of 305.18 ± 1.7 mg/mL, 643.13 ± 4.2 mg/mL, and 208.16 ± 3.7 mg/mL, respectively. The extract was more effective against A549 cell lines when compared to others. The presences of phenolics, triterpenoids, and flavonoids were identified in the extract. The extract showed total phenolic and flavonoid content of 478 ± 2.2 mg of gallic acid equivalent/g d.w and 538 ± 1.4 mg of quercetin equivalent/g d.w, respectively. This higher content of total phenolics and flavonoids found in the ethanolic extract was directly associated to higher cytotoxicity activity. The ethanolic leaf gall extract of T. chebula showed effective cytotoxic activities; which might be attributed to the phenolics/flavonoids present in higher concentration. Future work will be interesting to know the chemical composition of the extract and also better understand the mechanism of action of the constituents present in the extract to develop it as drug for therapeutic application.

Keywords: Alternative medicine; drugs; indian medicinal plants; inhibition; traditional medicine

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