Chemical and Biological Studies of Leaf Extract of Dendrophthoe falcata Linn.

Abstract

Dendrophthoe falcata (Family Loranthaceae) is used extensively in rural area as a component of
ethno-medicine for the treatment of various diseases. In this study, the crude extracts and the fractions obtained
from D. falcata were investigated for potential chemical constituents and some biological activities. For medicinal
properties the antioxidant, brine shrimp lethality and thrombolytic activities have been investigated. The structures
of the isolated three compounds were solved by extensive analyses of their high resolution 1HNMR spectroscopic
data. They were identified as Lupeol, 3-β-acetoxy-12-ene-11-one and β-sitosterol. For bioactivities, the petroleum
ether, dichloromethane, chloroform and aqueous soluble fractions abbreviated as PESF, DCMSF, CSF and AQSF
respectively. Brine shrimp lethality bioassay was used to evaluate potential cytotoxic activities, where all fractions
showed significant activity with lower LC50. Most significant activity has been observed for methanol extract
(LC50= 4.477 g/ml). AQSF revealed maximum activity in DPPH free radical scavenging assay (IC50 = of 43.49
μg/ml). In assay for thrombolytic activity, the methanol extract and its chloroform soluble fraction demonstrated
significant efficacy with 32.65% and 32.36% clot lysis, respectively.