IN-VITRO CYTOTOXICITY OF THREE SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANT EXTRACTS FROM KENYA.

Abstract

In Kenya, medicinal plants have been used by the local people as traditional medicine to treat different human ailments from time immemorial. However, safety of most of these plants has not been determined hence the present study seeks to determine the in vitro cytotoxicity of the three medicinal plants namely; Ehretia cymosa Thonn, Dovyalis abyssinica (A. Rich.) Warb. and Periplocca linearifolia Dill & A. Rich that are commonly used to treat various diseases. The ethnobotanical survey was carried out using a structured questionnaire. Fresh plants were collected from the field and air dried under shade at 25 o C and later ground into powder and extracted using acetone and water. In vitro cytotoxicity test was carried out following a modified rapid calorimetric assay using actively dividing sub-confluent Vero E6 cells. Cell toxicity showed that most of the plant extracts tested were not cytotoxic having a CC 50 (µg/ml) of ≥100 against Vero cell lines except the acetone extracts of P. linearifolia that were moderately toxic with a CC 50 (µg/ml) of 12.5, suggesting former extracts may be safe as antimicrobials.