OA01.47. Phytochemical study and evaluation of antileukemic activity of ripe fruit of Opuntia elatior Mill

PURPOSE: Opuntia elatior Mill. (Family: Cactacea) is a xerophytic perennial bushy shrub, 1-3 m tall. It is native of Caribbean, Central America and northern South America, but actually it is fully naturalized in many part of the world like Mediterranean, Australia, Africa and India. Ripe fruits of this plant contain red pigment i.e. betanin which is betacyanin pigment. It is recently documented that natural food colors such as betanin can inhibit the cell proliferation of a variety of human tumor cells. In view of its traditional use and chemical composition, Opuntia elatior Mill. fruit was selected for its in vitro antileukemic and antioxidant activity. METHOD: The fruits of Opuntia elatior after collection, authentication and drying was extracted with hydroalcoholic solvent using maceration method. The present study aimed to determine the preliminary phytochemical evaluation, quantitative estimation of Betanin pigment, total phenolic, flavonoid and flavonone content with spectrophotometric methods, evaluation of antioxidant and cytotoxicity study of the hydroalcholic extract of Opuntia elatior on K-562 cell line (Human chronic myelocytic leukemia) by MTT assay method. RESULT: The preliminary phytochemical evaluation showed the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, betanin pigment, tannins, sterols, proteins, pectin, citric acid and vitamin C. The total phenolic, flavonoid, flavonone and betanin content in extract were found to be 52.76 mg/g, 39.22 mg/g, 9.60 mg/g and 48.10 mg/100ml of extract respectively. Evaluation of antioxidant activity was carried out by DPPH free radical scavenging method. It showed significant activity compared with the standard. IC50 values for extract of O.elatior and Vitamin C was found to be 88.16 g/ml and 62.83 g/ml respectively. CONCLUSION: Its cytotoxic evalution showed a potent action against to K-562 (Human chronic myelocytic leukemia) cell line. It was found that hydroalcoholic extract of the fruits of Opuntia elatior Mill. have persuasive antioxidant activity and promising antileukemic activity.