Evaluación de la actividad anti-inflamatoria y citotóxica in vitro del extracto hidroalcohólico de Gnaphalium americanum Mill.

Abstract

This investigation aims to determine the anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activity of Gnaphalium americanum Mill in vitro in order to identify its potential therapeutic applications. This plant was collected in Loja city, Ecuador. The water-alcohol extract was gotten by soaking during 72 hours using potable alcohol as solvent at 96%. After rotary evaporator and freeze dryer were used to get the final extract. Several assays were applied in the phytochemical screening to identity the secondary metabolites. We used Folin-Ciocalteu and gallic acid methods to evaluate the total phenols; aluminum trichloride and quercetin standard to determine flavonoids. The antioxidant capacity was carried out with DPPH method and the results were shown in terms of IC50. The anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic assays were carried out on aisle neutrophils to determine the inflammatory inhibition and the cell viability respectively. We identify several metabolites such as fatty compounds, alkaloids, triterpenes, catechins, reducing sugars, phenols and flavonoids in the phytochemical screening. Percentage of anti-inflammatory inhibition in G. americanum to 200 ppm was of 70.34% compared to value of reference acetyl salicylic acid with 50.77%. The cytotoxicity showed 98.96% of cell viability compared to acetyl salicylic acid with 88.82%. The water alcohol extract of G. americanum had a higher inflammatory inhibition than the reference and the cytotoxicity assay shows that this extract is less toxic than the aspirin when a higher value of cell viability is gotten. It is recommended to carry out further investigations about this plant because of its anti-inflammatory activity and low level of toxicity.