| dc.description.abstract | Most medicinal plants presently employed in traditional medicine are used without much
scientific evidence, this suggests a need to explore reliable investigations of their pharmaceutical potential. Therefore, in this research, we prepared methanolic extracts of
the thorn, bark, leaf and also a mix of the bark and thorn of Z. rhetsa. We tested the
anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and cytotoxicity of all the above-mentioned parts of this
plant. The bark and thorn of this medicinal plant is mainly employed for the treatment
and management of breast cancer in traditional medicine. A phytochemical analysis was
conducted by Folin Ciocalteu’s method: Total Phenolic Content (TPC) and aluminium
chloride colorimetric method: Total Flavonoid Content (TFC). In vitro anti-inflammatory
study was conducted by Human Red Blood Cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization assay,
while the in vitro anti-oxidant study was performed by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl
(DPPH) assay. The cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-
2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The phytochemical analysis revealed that
the highest concentration tested (1 mg/ml) of Z. rhetsa bark showed the highest TPC value
of 0.388 ± 0.003 mg/ml Gallic acid equivalent g. The bark and thorn extract showed the
highest flavonoid content out of all extracts, 0.069 ± 0.001 mg/ml Quercetin equivalent
g. The DPPH assay exhibited the highest inhibition of 72.927 ± 0.293% for the bark
extract. The HRBC assay showed the highest anti-inflammatory activity for the thorn
extract, 95.276 ± 0.006%. The cytotoxicity effect of the highest concentration (1 mg/ml)
tested showed an inhibition of 72.940 ± 1.048% for the bark and thorn extract against the
MCF7 breast cancer cell line while a growth inhibition of 83.572 ± 1.676% was observed
against the DLD1 colon cancer cell line by the leaf extract compared to control. These
results indicate that the bark and thorn extract exhibited good cytotoxicity against the
breast cancer cells which validates the use in traditional medicine. More experiments will
be conducted to determine the anti-cancer activity of this extract in breast cancer cells. | en_US |
