Abstract

Various Hoang family remedies known as Dai-Thien-Nuong, utilize Canarium bengalense Roxb. (Family: Burseraceae) as a major component for the treatment of tumor and liver damage. This study was performed using the crude methanol extract of C. bengalense Roxb. bark and its petroleum ether, carbon tetrachloride, dichloromethane and aqueous soluble fractions for antioxidant, cytotoxic, thrombolytic, membrane stabilizing and antimicrobial activities. The antioxidant activity was assessed by 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity assay. The cytotoxic and thrombolytic activities were determined using vincristine sulphate and streptokinase as standards, respectively. Heat and hypotonic solution-induced conditions were induced to determine membrane stabilizing activity. Disc diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial activity of the test samples. Among all the test samples, the crude methanol extract showed the highest free radical scavenging activity (IC50 = 50.62±0.26 μg/ml). In cytotoxic activity assay, the pet-ether soluble fraction revealed the highest cytotoxic potentials (LC50 = 8.96 ± 0.64 μg/ml). The same sample showed 31.08±0.12% of clot lysis in thrombolytic activity assay. In membrane stabilizing activity assay, the dichloromethane soluble fraction showed 60.94 ± 0.31% inhibition of heat induced haemolysis of RBC and this finding was found to be more significant than that of acetyl salicylic acid (42.12±0.38%) used as standard in this assay. Phytocomponents responsible for the observed activities should be isolated for new drug development.

Key words: Canarium bengalense Roxb, total phenolic content, cytotoxicity, thrombolytic activity, membrane stabilizing activity.