Extraction and evaluation of anti inflammatory activity of spathiphyllum cannifolium

Abstract

Sphathiphyllum cannifolium is abundantly planted in Malaysia as a landscape plant. However, this plant also has medical benefit to human as it was previously found to possess anti-bacteria and anti-cancer activities. In the present study, the plant was evaluated for its anti inflammatory activity and the optimum condition for the extraction of bioactive compounds with anti inflammatory activity was determined. Semi purification of the compounds possessing anti inflammatory activity was conducted as well. To extract the bioactive compound, sonication with methanol as a solvent extraction was carried out. Face-Centered Central Composite Design (FCCCD) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) were used to design and identify the optimum condition to extract the compound, respectively. The results showed that the plant was positive for the anti inflammatory activity with IC50 6.3 μg/ml. Sonication for 60 min at 40°C using medium frequency was the optimum condition to carry out the extraction for bioactive compounds. After semi purification of the initial crude extract by solvent partitioning, chloroform fraction was found to be positive for anti inflammatory activity. In conclusion, this study suggested that S. cannifolium possess anti inflammatory activity and should be further analyzed to identify the specific compounds that responsible for this activity.