ABSTRACT

Research is focusing on the search for new types of natural chemotherapeutic agents derived from plants which are proving to be excellent sources of new compounds. The aqueous extract of Opuntia ficus-indica plant was screened for cytotoxic activities by standard MTT and SRB assays against three cancerous viz., A549, HeLa and MCF-7 and a normal HEK293 cell cultures. The successive aqueous extract showed selective toxicity towards cancer cells and showed less toxicity towards normal cells. The successive aqueous fraction showed potent activity against HeLa cells with IC50 39.717μg/ml and 85.63 μg/ml by MTT and SRB assay methods respectively and was comparatively nontoxic towards normal HEK293 cell cultures. The aqueous extract had no activity against A549 and MCF-7 cell cultures.
 

Key words: Cytotoxicity, SRB, MTT, Extraction.