Abstract

The present investigation deals with biological evaluation of Aster thomsonii. For this purpose, different biological assays of crude methanolic extract (CME) and its fractions that is n-Hexane fraction (NHF) and aqueous fraction (AQF) were carried out. The results of AQF showed maximum brine shrimp cytotoxic activity with ED₅₀ values of 154.69 µg/ml, while the NHF showed significant potato disc antitumor activity with IC₅₀values of 9.55 µg/ml. Evaluation of both NHF and AQF fractions for sulforhodamine B assay on human cell line HT144 showed IC₅₀ values of 1.10 and 2.82 mg/ml, respectively. While the IC₅₀ of CME and AQF fractions against human cell line H157 were 0.056 and 0.005 mg/ml, respectively. Antioxidant analysis of AQF determined the IC₅₀ values of 31.98 µg/ml. DNA protection assay results of all plant extracts were also appreciating for further investigations but the extracts and their fractions did not show antibacterial activity.

Key words: Aster thomsonii, brine shrimp toxicity assay, antitumor assay, sulforhodamine-B assay, antioxidant assay, DNA protection assay.