Cytotoxic Effect of Aqueous and Ethanolic Bark Extracts of Alstonia Scholaris against Cervical Cancer Cell Line

Alstonia scholaris, a tropical evergreen tree belonging to the family Apocy-naceae has traditionally been referred to have anti-cancer activity, but it has not been explored so far. Therefore, the study is aimed to investigate the cyto-
toxic effect of aqueous and ethanolic bark extracts of Alstonia scholaris against cervical cancer cell line (HeLa Cell line). The bark part of Alstonia scholaris
was collected, dried, powdered and made to a coarse powder. Maceration was carried out for the bark of Alstonia Scholaris using two different solvents like ethanol and aqueous solutions. Both the extracts were collected, evaporated

to dryness. The extracts were then investigated for the phytochemical screen-ing and cytotoxic effect by MTT Assay using cervical cancer cell line (HeLa cell line). The phytochemical screening of both the extracts showed the presence of various phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, βlavonoids, glycosides, gums and mucilage. The IC50 value of Alstonia scholaris of aqueous extract was found to be 13.38μg/ml, whereas the IC50 value of ethanol extract was found to be 14.21μg/ml. According to the results obtained, it has been proved that the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Alstonia Scholaris bark showed the pres-
ence of signiβicant phytoconstituents and also showed signiβicant cytotoxic effect (MTT Assay) against cervical cancer.