In-vitro phytochemical and pharmacological bio-efficacy studies on Azadirachta indica A. Juss and Melia azedarach Linn for anticancer activity

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2020 Feb;27(2):682-688. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2019.11.024. Epub 2019 Nov 27.

Abstract

In this study, phyto-constituents, anti-bacterial and anticancer activity of Azadirachta indica A. Juss and Melia azedarach Linn was analyzed. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) fingerprint profile of methanol extract of A. indica and M. azedarach was carried out. The present findings showed the presence of phytochemicals such as, steroids, alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, anthraquinone and aminoacids in A. indica and M. azedarach extracts. HPLC profiling of methanolic extract of A. indica and M. azaderach revealed eleven and ten fractions of compounds were visualized in the form of peak. In TLC methanolic extract of A. indica was separated by eight distinct phenolic and three steroidal bands and M. azaderach showed sixteen distinct phenolic and three different steroidal bands. In antibacterial activity, Among the various extracts 50 µg/ml methanolic extracts of A. indica showed high activity against K. pneumoniae (14 mm) and M. azedarach showed high activity against S. aureus (15 mm). The results suggest that the crude methanolic extracts of A. indica and M. azedarach possess significant phytochemical properties compared to other extracts and hence the phytochemicals of M. azedarach and A. indica can be exploited for plant based anticancer and antimicrobial agents in the near future.

Keywords: Anticancer; Azadirachta indica; Medicinal plants; Melia azedarach; Phytochemicals.