Abstract

The hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of Cryptostegia grandiflora yielded a mixture of phytosterols and triterpenoids namely lanosterol, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, friedelin, lupeol, ursolic acid and β-amyrin. The quantification of these phytosterols and triterpenoids was carried out and found that β-sitosterol (0.43±0.000241) was major phytosterol in 6 weeks old callus. In recent years, elicitors are being used for increasing the quantity of medicinally important products so the effect of salicylic acid (abiotic elicitor) and ergosterol (biotic elicitor) in cell cultures was also investigated and observed that the quantity of lupeol was raised (0.11±0.0081) at 0.01 mM concentration of ergosterol as biotic elicitor. The isolated compounds and reference antibiotics were tested against pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The inhibition zones (IZ) of isolated compounds were also recorded and the activity index (AI) was calculated. It has been reported that lanosterol was most active (IZ-19.2; AI-1.032) against Escherichia coli and campesterol had greater activity against Candida albicans (IZ-15.6; AI-1.006).

Key words: Cryptostegia grandiflora, phytosterols, triterpenoids, in vivo and in vitro, antimicrobial activity.