Phytochemical Profiles, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic cell lines activity of Passiflora caerulea L.

Abstract

Passiflora caerulea L. (blue passion flower) is a member of the genus Passiflora, which contains over 500 species and is popular worldwide for its diverse medicinal properties. Qualitative phytochemical screening was carried out for the methanolic extract of the plant leaves and the tests revealed that the plant contains a wide range of medicinally important secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, cyanogenic compounds, phenolic compounds and glycosyl flavonoids. Among a host of organic solvents which were used for extraction, the methanolic extract was particularly found to possess high concentrations of carbohydrates, glycosides, free amino acids, glycosides, fats and alkaloids. Also, flavonoids, phytosterols, saponins, tannins and other phenolic compounds were present at lower levels in the methanolic extract. We tested the antioxidant potential of the P. caerulea methanolic leaf extract and discovered that it possessed nitric oxide scavenging activity of close to 80% w.r.t at 100 μg/mL against ascorbic acid control (100%). In the ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging assays, the extract (100 μg/mL) possessed antioxidant potential of 72.3% and 70%, respectively, w.r.t ascorbic acid control taken at 100 μg/mL. The plant powder was assessed quantitatively for presence of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, ascorbic acid, tannins and flavonoids and the concentrations of these compounds were found to be 14.26 mg/g, , respectively. MTT assay results showed that the crude methanolic extract of the plant possessed appreciable activity against breast cancer (MCF-7) cells. Although the IC50 values of the extract against MCF-7 cells were much lesser comparatively w.r.t control doxorubicin, the crude extract possessed considerable activity against MCF-7 cells when compared to the standard drug, doxorubicin. These results necessitate deeper investigations into the pharmacological and therapeutic usefulness of purified compounds from P. caerulea. Though P. incarnata is the most widely studied species in the Passiflora genus, P. caerulea is relatively poorly studied. This paper shows the phytochemical composition and biological activities of P. caerulea.