Antiproliferative Effects of the Methanolic Petiole Extract of Eichhornia crassipes Against Sloan Kettering Melanoma 5 Cell Line: An In Vitro Study

Background Eichhornia crassipes (E. crassipes) have several secondary metabolites that have medicinal value. These include sterols, alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, and saponins. In the current study, the methanolic petiole extract of E. crassipes was examined to determine its potential antiproliferative activity against Sloan Kettering Melanoma 5 (SK-Mel-5) cell lines. Materials and methods Eichhornia crassipes were obtained from the water bodies of Ezhikkara, Ernakulam, Kerala. The Soxhlet technique was used to produce the extract. Leaves, petioles, and roots were dried and pulverized before being analyzed phytochemically in a number of solvents. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to measure the extent to which various dosages of the extract inhibited cell proliferation, and the methanolic extract of petioles was chosen since it contained more anticancer components. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) was determined by utilizing a probit model and the slope-gradient method of the regression equation. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, NY) was used for the analysis. Results We examined the effects of 12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200 μg/ml of methanolic petiole extract. The data indicated that the methanol extract significantly reduced SK-Mel-5 cell viability. Cell growth inhibition increased with concentration but was shown to be relatively low at 100 g/ml, exhibiting 38.911% of inhibitory activity. The percentage of cell growth inhibition at 200 g/ml was 52.965%. The methanolic petiole extracts of E. crassipes were found to be cytotoxic with IC(50) values of 172.186 g/ml. Probit analysis was performed to obtain the regression equation. Conclusion The in vitro study suggests that the methanol extract of the petiole of E. crassipes had modest antiproliferative action against SK-Mel-5 cells, a typical human melanocyte tumor cell line. The study findings shed light on the anticancer activity of E. crassipes, making it an appropriate source of drug-lead chemicals for the development of safer and cost-effective remedies for cutaneous ailments varying from rashes to awful melanoma.