Comparative Bioactivity Investigation of Carica Papaya Leaves Extracted with Different Solvents

Kong, Xuan Qi (2022) Comparative Bioactivity Investigation of Carica Papaya Leaves Extracted with Different Solvents. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Medicinal plants have been studied to treat diseases. Carica papaya leaves are commonly used as herbs as they have been found to have antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer properties. In fact, extracting the phytochemical compounds with different types of solvent will affect the extracted compounds from the plant material, and subsequently affect their antioxidant activity. This project aimed to investigate the phytochemicals and bioactivity of the extracted compounds in Carica papaya leaves by using different solvents. In this project, Carica papaya leaves were extracted by maceration using methanol, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether and petroleum ether. The extracted compounds were then screened using phytochemical tests and the free radical scavenging activity were determined using DPPH assay. After that, the MTT assay was performed to determine the cell viability. The methanolic extract of Carica papaya leaves was found to contain a variety of phytochemicals including saponins, alkaloids, tannins and phenolic compounds, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides and flavonoids. Alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, tannins and phenolic compounds were found in ethyl acetate extract; whereas alkaloids, terpenoids, tannins and phenolic compounds were found in petroleum ether extract. In contrast, cardiac glycosides, tannins and phenolic compounds were found in diethyl ether extract. In DPPH assay, the average EC50 value of ascorbic acid was very low, which was 17.60 μg/mL, indicating its high antioxidant activity. In MTT assay of HepG2 cells, the IC50 of the methanolic extract is the highest, which is 193.75 μg/mL, followed by diethyl ether extract with IC50 of 193.40 μg/mL and ethyl acetate extract with IC50 of 162.75 μg/mL. However, IC50 was not achieved for petroleum ether extract at the tested concentration range (12.5-200 μg/mL). In conclusion, methanol is the best solvent to extract bioactive compounds in Carica papaya leaves. Petroleum ether extract exhibits the lowest cytotoxicity effect towards HepG2 cells, followed by methanol, diethyl ether and ethyl acetate extracts