Phytochemical and biological attributes of Bauhinia variegata L. (Caesalpiniaceae)

Bauhinia variegata plant is a very popular and traditionally potent ethnomedicine. Therefore, it is need of hour to study ameliorative characteristics of B. variegata for novel secondary metabolites. The current study was designed to explore antiproliferative potential of B. variegata due to scant reports on this aspect. Extracts of various parts (flowers, leaves, bark, stem, and roots) were prepared by successive maceration using organic solvents in increasing order of polarity (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and water). The determination of polyphenolic contents was done by using colorimetric methods while antioxidant potential was measured using reducing power assay. Brine shrimp lethality assay was performed for determining preliminary cytotoxicity and antiproliferative activity against breast cancer MCF-7 cell line using MTT protocols. Moreover, antimicrobial activities were detected by using disc diffusion assay. The alpha-amylase assay was performed to monitor the antidiabetic potential of the plant. In case of phytochemical analysis methanolic extract of leaves and bark showed highest phenolic and flavonoids contents. n-Hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of stem and roots exhibited more than 90% mortality with LD50 ranges between 1-25 µg/mL when studied by brine shrimp lethality assay. n-Hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of roots and stem also showed antiproliferative activity against human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line with IC50 values ranges between 12.10-14.20 µg/mL. Most of the extracts displayed moderately high antibacterial and antifungal activities. The n-hexane extract of roots showed antidiabetic activity with 60.80 ± 0.20% inhibition of alpha-amylase. In sum, these preliminary results will be useful for further compound isolation from selected plant parts for the discovery of antibacterial, antidiabetic, and anticancer lead candidates.