EVALUATION OF CYTOTOXIC, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL POTENTIAL OF MEDICINAL PLANTS - BERGENIA, SANTOLINA, ARTEMISIA FROM THE FLORICULTURE DEVELOPMENT SCHEME, LAL MANDI SRINAGAR

Abstract

Medicinal plants remain an important source of bioactive compounds with potential applications in cancer prevention and therapy. In the present study, three medicinal plant extracts — Artemisia sp. (ART-2), Bergenia sp. (BEG-4), and Santolina sp. (ST-5) — collected from the Floriculture Development Scheme, Lal Mandi, Srinagar, were evaluated for antioxidant potential, in vitro cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, and antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. Antioxidant screening was performed using the DPPH radical-scavenging assay, cytotoxicity was assessed by the MTT assay after 24 h exposure, and antibacterial activity was assessed by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. In the MTT assay, ST-5 exhibited the strongest cytotoxic activity with an IC₅₀ of 54.03 ± 0.110 μg/ml, followed by ART-2 (66.56 ± 0.091 μg/ml), while BEG-4 was the weakest (964.2 ± 0.053 μg/ml). In the DPPH assay, BEG-4 showed the strongest antioxidant activity with an IC₅₀ of 33.25 ± 0.058 μg/ml, comparable to ascorbic acid (31.03 ± 0.016 μg/ml), while ART-2 (837.3 ± 0.096 μg/ml) and ST-5 (993.2 ± 0.035 μg/ml) were substantially weaker antioxidants. In the antibacterial assay, BEG-4 and ST-5 produced inhibition zones of 6 mm, while ART-2 produced 2 mm at 62.5 μg/disc, compared to ciprofloxacin (27 mm at 8 μg). The positive control paclitaxel showed an IC₅₀ of 53.65 ± 0.173 nM. These findings indicate that ST-5 and ART-2 are priority candidates for further phytochemical fractionation for anticancer studies, while BEG-4 warrants investigation of its antioxidant and antibacterial constituents.