Phytochemical composition and cytotoxicity of ethanolic extracts of some selected plants

Figures & data

Table 1. List of plant species evaluated for their phytochemical content and cytotoxicity.

Scientific name	Common name	Family name	Part used
Acacia nilotica L.	Gum Arabic	Fabaceae	Leaves
Acacia nilotica L.	Gum Arabic (pod)	Fabaceae	Pods with seeds
Acacia sieberiana DC.	Paperbark	Fabaceae	Leaves
Allium cepa L.	Onions	Amaryllidaceae	Bulbs
Allium sativum L.	Garlic	Amaryllidaceae	Bulbs
Aloe ferox Mill.	Bitter Aloe	Asphodelaceae	Leaves
Ananas comosus (L) Merr.	Pineapple	Bromeliaceae	Leaves
Camellia japonica L.	Tea	Theaceae	Leaves
Carica papaya L.	Pawpaw	Caricaceae	Leaves
Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K.Koch	Pecan	Juglandaceae	Kernel shell
Cichorium intybus L.	Chicory	Asteraceae	Leaves
Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck	Lemon	Rutaceae	Leaves
Coffea arabica L.	coffee	Rubiaceae	Leaves
Ficus benjamina L.	Weeping fig	Moraceae	Leaves
Ficus natalensis Hochst.	Natal fig	Moraceae	Leaves
Moringa oleifera Lam.	Drumstick	Moringaceae	Leaves
Morus nigra L.	Mulberry	Moraceae	Leaves
Persea Americana Mill.	Avocado	Lauraceae	Leaves
Psidium guajava L.	Guava	Myrtaceae	Leaves
Tulbaghia violacea Harv.	Wild garlic	Amaryllidaceae	Whole plant
Vernonia amygdalina Delile	Bitter leaf	Asteraceae	Leaves
Zingiber officinale Roscoe	Ginger	Zingiberceae	Rhizomes

Table 2. Ethanolic extract yield of dried plant parts.

Plants	Extract yield (%)	Physical nature of the extract
Acacia nilotica	31.3	Granular
Acacia nilotica pod	38	Granular
Acacia sieberiana	41.2	Viscous
Allium cepa	62.5	Viscous
Allium sativum	24.3	Viscous
Aloe ferox	22.2	Viscous
Ananas comosus	21.3	Viscous
Camellia japonica	30	Granular
Carica papaya	63.5	Viscous
Carya illinoinensis	49.5	Granular
Cichorium intybus	27.6	Granular
Citrus limon	46	Viscous
Coffea arabica	47.4	Viscous
Ficus benjamina	40.5	Semi-solid
Ficus natalensis	25.5	Viscous
Moringa oleifera	32.7	Granular
Morus nigra	32	Viscous
Persea Americana	44.6	Semi-solid
Psidium guajava	29.8	Granular
Tulbaghia violacea	50.5	Viscous
Vernonia amygdalina	26.7	Granular
Zingiber officinale	29.7	Viscous

Table 3. Quantitative phytochemical content of the crude medicinal plant extracts (mean ± SD in mg/g extract).

Plant species	Alkaloids	Flavonoids	Steroids	Tannins	Saponin	Crude fat
Acacia nilotica (leaves)	132.36 ± 2.46	191.60 ± 9.07	44.89 ± 0.35	3.11 ± 0.38	31.68 ± 2.75	19.94 ± 5.57
Acacia nilotica (pod)	95.51 ± 1.29	138.63 ± 1.88	25.84 ± 1.44	2.82 ± 1.16	29.01 ± 1.35	0.37 ± 0.02
Acacia sieberiana	120.81 ± 2.67	40.88 ± 4.12	41.24 ± 1.57	0.45 ± 0.11	13.78 ± 1.23	624.22 ± 4.00
Allium cepa	59.19 ± 0.30	37.93 ± 2.86	24.52 ± 1.11	1.22 ± 0.23	19.69 ± 3.80	2.00 ± 0.01
Allium sativum	65.36 ± 1.22	31.95 ± 1.75	31.26 ± 1.73	0.65 ± 0.10	15.48 ± 1.28	149.75 ± 9.99
Aloe ferox	72.82 ± 3.77	117.58 ± 4.08	46.91 ± 0.78	4.08 ± 0.22	28.19 ± 0.77	273.5 ± 15.43
Ananas comosus	71.10 ± 1.27	58.17 ± 3.32	40.23 ± 1.33	0.26 ± 0.05	12.04 ± 1.44	153.30 ± 7.32
Camellia japonica	136.01 ± 17.53	105.54 ± 9.67	44.36 ± 0.82	11.70 ± 1.74	22.08 ± 1.56	233.45 ± 2.28
Carica papaya	28.91 ± 2.69	35.76 ± 1.05	28.69 ± 1.31	1.53 ± 0.51	15.70 ± 3.63	640.9 ± 14.21
Carya illinoinensis	186.88 ± 4.77	59.94 ± 3.92	48.83 ± 1.31	21.72 ± 0.84	30.18 ± 3.59	129.57 ± 2.76
Cichorium intybus	176.30 ± 1.05	80.76 ± 1.99	47.91 ± 2.34	1.70 ± 0.45	25.97 ± 3.58	29.33 ± 2.12
Citrus limon	52.12 ± 4.08	57.14 ± 2.22	52.30 ± 3.30	0.66 ± 0.17	24.10 ± 0.21	183.3 ± 13.86
Coffea Arabica	79.46 ± 1.51	190.51 ± 1.80	47.68 ± 1.20	3.60 ± 0.39	32.57 ± 4.27	388.67 ± 4.07
Ficus benjamina	103.61 ± 4.40	182.18 ± 3.61	36.44 ± 1.98	11.85 ± 2.40	27.54 ± 1.56	215.37 ± 6.49
Ficus natalensis	52.59 ± 2.28	70.80 ± 1.17	57.39 ± 1.97	0.95 ± 0.23	28.71 ± 2.14	573.55 ± 4.44
Moringa oleifera	171.11 ± 3.36	152.24 ± 1.32	70.45 ± 3.87	0.71 ± 0.02	27.27 ± 1.90	112.81 ± 0.61
Morus nigra	156.96 ± 7.29	83.66 ± 3.36	68.00 ± 2.35	1.34 ± 0.20	20.46 ± 1.53	377.1 ± 17.43
Persea Americana	112.10 ± 10.68	138.62 ± 0.95	39.25 �� 1.51	2.09 ± 0.14	28.22 ± 1.00	277.68 ± 8.91
Psidium guajava	219.06 ± 11.50	156.26 ± 1.75	29.29 ± 1.50	5.67 ± 0.91	30.13 ± 2.86	342.90 ± 7.96
Tulbaghia violacea	182.66 ± 6.29	53.68 ± 3.08	59.23 ± 0.63	1.89 ± 0.04	29.94 ± 0.95	42.98 ± 5.73
Vernonia amygdalina	169.98 ± 23.74	133.70 ± 1.89	79.84 ± 1.35	3.33 ± 0.79	30.55 ± 2.06	188.0 ± 38.99
Zingiber officinale	77.03 ± 2.22	47.51 ± 4.07	48.59 ± 2.75	0.39 ± 0.10	21.46 ± 2.40	183.7 ± 16.34
P-value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
RMSE	7.949	3.287	1.849	0.776	2.265	12.248

RMSE – Root mean square error.

Table 4. Cytotoxicity of crude plant extracts on monkey kidney cells LC50 (mean ± SD mg/ml).

Plant Species	LC50
Acacia nilotica (leaves)	0.0494 ± 0.011^cd
Acacia nilotica (pod)	0.0101 ± 0.016^d
Acacia sieberiana	0.0856 ± 0.018^cd
Allium cepa	0.5182 ± 0.408^a
Allium sativum	0.3266 ± 0.175^abcd
Aloe ferox	0.4147 ± 0.213^ab
Ananas comosus	0.1952 ± 0.050^bcd
Camellia japonica	0.0151 ± 0.005^d
Carica papaya	0.2707 ± 0.071^abcd
Carya illinoinensis	0.1400 ± 0.009^bcd
Cichorium intybus	0.2294 ± 0.157^abcd
Citrus limon	0.1214 ± 0.080^bcd
Coffea arabica	0.1478 ± 0.009^bcd
Ficus benjamina	0.1406 ± 0.032^bcd
Ficus natalensis	0.3616 ± 0.130^abc
Moringa oleifera	0.2442 ± 0.073^abcd
Morus nigra	0.0664 ± 0.015^cd
Persea americana	0.1572 ± 0.074^bcd
Psidium guajava	0.0481 ± 0.006^cd
Tulbaghia violacea	0.4909 ± 0.034^a
Vernonia amygdalina	0.0505 ± 0.009^cd
Zingiber officinale	0.0983 ± 0.024^bcd
Doxorubicin (µM)	2.0019 ± 0.01
P-value	<0.0001
RMSE	0.112

Means with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.01), RMSE – Root mean square error.

Table 5. Pearson correlation of LC50 with the phytochemicals.

	Alkaloid	Flavonoid	Steroid	Tannin	Saponin	Crude fat
LC50	−0.30011	−0.42478	−0.07899	−0.25117	−0.1118	−0.07188
P-value	0.1748	0.0488	0.7268	0.2595	0.6204	0.7506

Table 6. Selectivity index value of the plant extracts.

Plants	S. aureus	S. faecalis	E. coli	S. typhimurium
Acacia nilotica (leaves)	*(1.563)0.032	(1.563)0.032	(1.563)0.032	(0.391)0.126
Acacia nilotica (pod)	(0.781)0.013	(1.563)0.006	(1.563)0.006	(0.391)0.026
Acacia sieberiana	(3.125)0.027	(0.781)0.110	na	(3.125)0.027
Allium cepa	(1.563)0.332	(3.125)0.166	na	(0.391)1.325
Allium sativum	Na	Na	na	(1.563)0.209
Aloe ferox	(0.391)1.061	(3.125)0.133	na	(1.563)0.265
Ananas comosus	(3.125)0.062	Na	na	(1.563)0.125
Camellia japonica	(1.563)0.010	(3.125)0.005	na	(0.781)0.019
Carica papaya	na	Na	na	(1.563)0.173
Carya illinoinensis	(0.391)0.358	(1.563)0.090	na	(0.781)0.179
Cichorium intybus	(3.125)0.073	(3.125)0.073	na	(0.781)0.294
Citrus limon	na	(3.125)0.039	na	(3.125)0.039
Coffea arabica	na	Na	na	(3.125)0.047
Ficus benjamina	(3.125)0.045	(3.125)0.045	na	(1.563)0.090
Ficus natalensis	na	(3.125)0.116	na	(3.125)0.116
Moringa oleifera	(3.125)0.078	(1.563)0.156	na	(1.563)0.156
Morus nigra	(3.125)0.021	(3.125)0.021	na	(3.125)0.021
Persea americana	(3.125)0.050	Na	na	(1.563)0.101
Psidium guajava	(0.781)0.063	(1.563)0.031	na	(0.781)0.062
Tulbaghia violacea	(3.125)0.157	Na	na	(3.125)0.157
Vernonia amygdalina	(1.563)0.032	(1.563)0.032	na	(1.563)0.032
Zingiber officinale	(3.125)0.031	Na	na	(3.125)0.031

na – not applicable (MIC > 3.125), * – values in bracket are the MIC value used in calculating the selectivity index.