Phytochemical screening, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities in extracts of different rhizome parts from Curcuma aeruginosa RoxB

Abstract

Crude aqueous, 70% ethanol and 96% ethanol extracts from different part of rhizome of Curcuma aeruginosa RoxB., namely primary rhizome (PR), secondary rhizome (SR) and tertiary rhizome (TR) were screened for phytochemical compounds using qualitative methods, antioxidant activity using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical and cytotoxicity using brine shrimp lethality test (BSLT). The crude 70% ethanol extract of PR (IC50, 437.07 μg/ml) had stronger DPPH scavenging activity compared to the other crude extracts of different part of rhizomes of C. aeruginosa. None of the extracts from different rhizome parts of C. aeruginosa were found to be more active than standard (ascorbic acid, IC50, 32.91 μg/ml) for DPPH scavenging activity. In the BSLT, we found than the crude 96% ethanol and 70% ethanol extracts of PR exhibited most activity, which had LC50 values of 90.40 and 265.17 μg/ml, respectively. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins and triterpenoids in all extracts, and saponins in the 70% ethanol and pure aqueous extracts, but alkaloids, flavonoids, and steroids were absent in all the extracts of different part of rhizome of C. aeruginosa.