Evaluation of antioxidant, cytotoxic and apoptotic activities of methanolic extract of momordica cymbalaria hook f. unripe fruit

Abstract

Natural products gain more attention nowadays because of their compatibility with mankind, safe and economic feasible. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate antioxidant, cytotoxic and apoptotic activities of methanolic extract of Momordica cymbalaria Hook F. unripe fruit (UF). A considerable DPPH, hydroxyl radical scavenging and metal ion chelating activities and significant inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation and least activity on deoxyribose degradation was observed for methanolic UF extract. Cytotoxic activity of UF extract on HeLa cells was observed and its inhibitory concentration fifty percent was calculated as 17.69±0.01µg/mL. Apoptosis inducing ability of UF extract on HeLa cells was also observed by Propidium iodide and acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EtBr) dual staining. This is the first report on antioxidant, cytotoxic and apoptotic inducing ability of methanolic UF extract of Momordica cymbalaria collected from Sattur, Virudhunagar district, Tamilnadu, India.