Phytochemical Screening and Evaluation of Cytotoxicity and Thrombolytic Properties of Achyranthes Aspera Leaf Extract

The rural and marginal people of Bangladesh are deprived of modern treatment facilities and hence greatly depend on medicinal plants. Besides, the higher cost and toxicity of synthetic drugs drives scientists towards search for natural source of medication for a number of diseases. Cost-effectiveness, easy availability and fewer side effects are making the herbal medicine more popular both among rural and city people. Plants with Cytotoxic and clot lysis potential are good candidate as source of novel anti-tumor agents and thrombolytic drugs. This study aimed at screening out of phytochemical constituents and evaluation of cytotoxicity and thrombolytic potential of an important medicinal plant Achyranthes aspera methanolic leaf extract. In vitro phytochemical screening of A. aspera leaf extract carried out by qualitative tests revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, steroids and saponins while phlobatannins were absent. Cytotoxicity test of A. aspera leaf extract carried out by Brine shrimp Lethality (BSL) Bioassay showed the highest percentage of mortality (90%) in 1250 μg/ml and LC50 value was 50.12 μg/ml. Thrombolytic test showed 32.87 ± 9.42% clot lytic activity for A. aspera while positive control (streptokinase) and negative control (water) showed 81.19 ± 3.78% and 6.67 ± 2.58% clot lysis, respectively. Synergistic effect of streptokinase and A. aspera extract also produced better result (56.30 ± 6.95%) than A. aspera alone.