Assessment of cytotoxicity, antibacterial activity and phytochemical screening of ethanol extract of Phyllanthus acidus L. (family: Euphorbiacceae) bark

In the present work, the ethanol extract of the barks of Phyllanthus acidus L. (Family: Euphorbiaceae) were investigated for preliminary phytochemical screening, cytotoxicity and antibacterial activities. The presence of phytochemical constituents was identified by characteristic changes using standard procedure. Brine shrimp lethality (BSL) bioassay was used to investigate the cytotoxic effects and the agar disc diffusion method was used for antimicrobial assay of the plant extract. The phytochemical screening of ethanol extract of the plant showed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides and steroids. The ethanol extracts of Phyllanthus acidus L. bark showed cytotoxicity with LC50 and LC90 values of 501.19μg/mL and LC90: 794.33μg/mL, respectively. The extract of Phyllanthus acidus L. bark showed significant antibacterial activity against gram negative bacteria only such as such as E. coli (19.25 ± 0.54mm), S. typhi (32.08 ± 0.51mm) and Vibrio cholerae (16.42 ± 0.42mm). The obtained results showed a potential source of biologically active compounds which can be used as antibacterial agents.