IN VITRO EVALUATION OF CYTOTOXIC, ANTIBACTERIAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF PETROLEUM ETHER EXTRACT OF PHYLLANTHUS ACIDUS

The in vitro activity of the petroleum ether extract of fruit part of Phyllanthus acidus was tested for cytotoxic antibacterial and antioxidant activities as well as for phytochemical screening. The plant was collected from Savar, Dhaka. Phytochemical screening of petroleum extract of phyllanthus acidus revealed the presence of carbohydrate, glycoside and steroid. The extract exhibited antibacterial activity was determined by the disc diffusion method against thirteen pathogenic bacteria and the cytotoxic activity was performed by brine shrimp lethality bio-assay method. The higher concentrations showed antimicrobial activity against a number of bacteria including Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus megaterium. In brine shrimp lethality bio-assay, the LC₅₀ value was 3.12. The phenolics contents was 159.601 mg/g GAE and the amount of flavonoid was 24.183 mg/g of quercetin equivalent. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of Phyllanthus acidus was found to slight increase with increasing concentration of the extract and IC₅₀ value showed 1192.263 µg mL⁻¹ for plant extract compared to 13.37 µg mL⁻¹ which was the IC₅₀ value for the reference ascorbic acid