Assessment of the Cytotoxic Potential of Tecoma castanifolia (D. Don) Melch Flower Extract Against MCF-7 Cell Line

Objective: Bignoniaceae is a family having 100 genera of flowering plants. This family has many species with effective cytotoxic activity. One of its genuses, Tecoma contains 14 species and they are referred as trumpet trees. Tecoma species has various uses recorded in folk medicine and are being explored scientifically. Flowers of one of the species T.castanifolia is assessed for its potential. Method: Fresh and healthy flowers were collected and were cold extracted with solvents viz., chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol; filtered through Whatmann No.1 filter paper and evaporated to dryness. The extracts were subjected to MTT assay against MCF-7 cell line. Result: The extraction yielded a gummy extract which were stored in a glass vial. The preliminary data shows that of the extracts tested the ethyl acetate extract has the highest cytotoxic activity in vitro against MCF-7 cell line. The 50% growth inhibition concentration of the ethyl acetate extract was obtained at 180μg/ml. Concluison: The study shows that the ethyl acetate extract has fair cytotoxicity and can be tested with other cell lines. Further, studies pertaining to their composition of phytochemicals etc need to be done. KeywordsPlant extract, Cytotoxicity, MCF-7, MTT assay, Tecoma.