BRINE SHRIMP LETHALITY TEST AND ANTI-PROLIFERATION TEST AGAINST HUMAN CANCER-ORIGIN CELL LINES USING ETHANOLIC AND WATER EXTRACTS OF SELAGINELLADOEDERLEINII HIERON

Abstract

Most of the properties of herbal products claimed in traditional use are based on traditional knowhow and/or empirical observations. Support from scientific evaluation and validation is thus crucial. Selaginella doederleinii HIERON is a member from the family of Selaginellaceae, a perennial, fern-like plant, and spike moss. It is known in traditional medicine to be useful to treat many diseases. However, proper scientific experimental results have not been reported thus far. The present study was conducted with the objectives of evaluating the phytochemical compositions, antimicrobial activities, and toxicity of the plant extracts. Qualitative phytochemical analysis on ethanolic (SDE) and water extracts (SDW) revealed the presence of saponins, tannins and cardiac glycosides in the extracts. The 50% lethal concentration (LC₅₀) in brine shrimp lethality test (BSLT) using SDE and SDW after 24 hours of exposure was found to be >1000µg/ml. Strong antimicrobial activity was observed against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilus. Cancer-origin cell lines MDA-MB231 and HepG2 were found to be the most susceptible, among other tested cell lines, with the treatments of SDE (LC₅₀ =306 µg/ml) and SDW (LC₅₀= 329 µg/ml) respectively. Amelioration with further subfractionation would increase the specific antiproliferation activities of these subfractions.

Key words: Selaginella doederleinii, Brine shrimp, Anti-proliferative