FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF ORAL HERBAL TABLETS CONTAINING METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF ALTERNANTHERA PUNGENS WITH CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITY

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present study is to prepare methanolic extract of the whole plant Alternanthera pungens (MEAP), to perform phytochemical analysis, screening of cytotoxic activity using MCF-7 cell lines and to develop herbal tablets using various polymers. The methanolic extract was prepared by maceration method and by performing qualitative analysis of extract MEAP, it was found to contain alkaloids, steroidal and triterpenoids and flavonoids.  The extract MEAP has exhibited significant cytotoxic activity by performing In-vitro studies by using MTT assay on MCF-7 cancer cells. The 9 herbal oral formulations were prepared using various polymers such as Eudragit L 100, HPMC E50 premium, HPMC K 100 LVCR. Among 9 prepared herbal formulations, the blend of all the herbal tablets have exhibited good flow properties such as angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density and also exhibited significant post compression parameters and evaluated for the quality control parameters as per I.P limits. FT-IR analysis of all 9 herbal tablets shown that there is no interaction between the MEAP and the polymers employed. For conclusion, the whole plant Alternanthera pungens is rich in flavonoids and triterpenoids and exhibited cytotoxic activity with the methanolic extract and their herbal formulations were exhibited significant values. Hence the presence of cytotoxic phytoconstituents, the extension of the isolation of bioactive compounds from the plant Alternanthera pungens may be the promising study to obtain lead molecules for future.

KEYWORDS: Alternanthera pungens, herbal tablets, cytotoxic activity, Eudragit L 100, HPMC E50 premium, HPMC K 100 LVCR.