In Vitro Mass Propagation, Anti-Cancer Activity and Phytochemical Analysis of Typhonium Flagelliforme

The study was conducted at the in vitro laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture and Biochemistry lab(1), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor. The main objectives of the study were to determine the anti cancer activity and phytochemical analysis of Typhonium flagelliforme between the in vitro and ex vitro plants. T. flagelliforme (Araceae) is a medicinal herb which is endowed with curative properties against a variety of illness including injuries, oedema, coughs, pulmonary ailments, bleeding and cancer. A preliminary study has demonstrated in vitro anticancer activity of matured field grown plants. In this study, T. flagelliforme was mass propagated in vitro and transferred to the natural environment to determine its phytochemical contents and anticancer activity. Plant materials were cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different concentrations of cytokinin (BAP, 0, 1, 5, 10 mg/L) and auxin (NAA, 0, 0.5, 1 mg/L). The effects of these two hormones on the mean number of shoots and the shoot weight were recorded. The combination of 5 mg/mL BAP and 1 mg/mL NAA was found to significantly increase both parameters studied. Dried oven material of T. flagelliforme was extracted in the mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (1:1) for the preliminary phytochemical analysis and anticancer activity test. The phytochemical analysis for the major constituents was undertaken using the standard qualitative methods. The plants (in vitro and 1- 6 month old ex vitro plants) were analysed for the presence of alkaloid, terpenoids, flavonoids and steroids. The presence of alkaloids was detected in 2- 5 month old ex vitro plants and strong presence of flavonoids was detected in all the ex vitro plants. T. flagelliforme was evaluated for inhibitory effect on the growth of human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7), using a microculture tetrazolium (MTT) assay. The growth inhibitory activity was determined by GI50 (the concentration of drugs which inhibited the cell growth by 50%). Extracts of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 months old field grown plants, was found to be active against MCF-7 (breast cancer cell line) with the GI50 values of 6.2, 33.1, 14.7, 57.5, 16.6 μg/mL respectively. Meanwhile, the presence of alkaloids and flavonoids were found to be positive in 2-5 months old plants, whereas the six month old plants showed the presence of flavonoids and steroids.

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