“Evaluation of antioxidant, cytotoxic and chemopreventive activities of three mangrove plants of Sundarbans”

The  study was conducted to investigate the anti-oxidant, cytotoxicity and chemopreventive activities of three mangrove plant namely Tamarix indica, Pandanus foetidus and Vitis tiliiflia. The plant parts were extracted with ethanol. All the three extracts showed remarkable free radical scavenging activity in the DPPH assay. Total tannin, flavonoid, phenolic contents were found in considerable amount in all extracts. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay all the extracts showed promising cytotoxic effects. Chemo preventive activity was evaluated in DMBA/croton oil induced skin carcinogenic mice. It was revealed that oral administration of ethanolic extracts effectively delayed the onset of skin papillomas in animals and simultaneously decreases the tumor size and incidence. Extracts also increased the level of GSH, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activities which were dropped in carcinogenic group. Collectively, results of this study demonstrates with evidence that all the three plant (Tamarix indica, Pandanus foetidus and Vitis tiliiflia) have prospective chemo preventive activity against skin tumor genesis through modulating the enzyme level using its antioxidant potential.

• Research Project