Phytochemical Profiling of Medicinal Plants Extracts and Their Antioxidant and Anticancer Potentialities Against Human Liver Cancer (Hep G2) Cell Lines

Abstract

Although Pakistan is stacked with enormous varieties of medicinal plants, only a little proportion of these plants has been evaluated for their medicinal and therapeutic properties. Herein, four indigenous medicinal plants Citrus sinenesis, Citrus paradiasii, Moringa olifera, and Hibiscus rosa-sinenesis were collected and subjected to phytochemical analyses to scrutinize the presence of secondary metabolites. Qualitative analysis showed the presence of an array of secondary metabolites in the selected plants, which were further corroborated by high-performance liquid chromatography. Results revealed the presence of 33.24, 21.04, 15.2 ppm gallic acid in methanol, ethyl acetate and nhexane fraction of C. sinensis peels extract, respectively. C. paradaissi peels consist of 24.06, and 18.24 ppm of gallic acid and caffeic acid, respectively, in methanol and chloroform fractions, whereas its methanolic seeds extract contain caffeic acid as a major component (10.63 ppm). H. rosa-sinenesis has shown p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and gallic acid at 35.26, 15.04, and 11.4 ppm, respectively. M. olifera contained 3.24 ppm gallic acid in pods extract while stems and leaves extract contain a very low amount. Anticancer profile evinced that Citrus sinensis extract showed the highest percent inhibition (142.746%) of human liver cancer (Hep G2) cell lines followed by H. rosa-sinensis (132.49%), C. paradaisii (82.39%) and M. olifera (68.0%). The determined IC50 values for antioxidant activity were C. sinenesis (IC50=0.49 mM), C. paradaisii (IC50=0.43 mM), M. olifera (IC50=0.42 mM) and H. rosasinensis (IC50=0.41 mM). Conclusively, the selected plants could be an effective alternative and deliverable chemical therapeutic to the pharmaceutical industry due to their excellent biological effects.