Biological Activities of Three Different Medicinal Plants from Himalayan Region of Nepal

Abstract

Crude chloroform/methanol and methanol extracts of leaves and twigs of three medicinal plants collected from different altitudes of Nepal, Rhododendron lepidotum, Hippophae rhamnoids and Cornus capitata were examined for their antibacterial, cytotoxicity and antiproliferative activities. The antimicrobial activity shown by methanol extracts of R. lepidotum and C. capitata against Staphylococcus aureus was comparable with that of streptomycin antibiotic whereas the activity of the extract of H. rhamnoids was very low. Cytoxicity (LC50) values ranged from 46.4 to 111.6 μg/ml with R. lepidotum and 129.4 to 464.1 μg/ml with C. capitata indicating high cytoxic property in the extract of R. lepidotum and medium in C. capitata. Similarly, anti-proliferative activity of R. lepidotum against HeLa cell line was relatively high activity in comparison to C. capitata and H. rhamnoids. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, steroids, glycosides and coumarins, which could be responsible for the bioactivities shown by these plants. Key words: antibacterial; antiproliferative; microtitration; HeLa cells DOI: 10.3126/njst.v11i0.4136Nepal Journal of Science and Technology 11 (2010) 139-146