Pharmaco-characterization, Antioxidant, and Cytotoxic Activity of Caesalpinia crista Linn. and its Role in Prevention of Cell Proliferation in MG-63 Osteosarcoma Cell Lines

Caesalpinia crista Linn. commonly known as Lata Kranja belongs to the family Caesalpiniaceae. It is a prickly shrub, found around the world, particularly in India, Sri Lanka, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In India, it is native to areas in tropical regions. C. crista has been frequently used in ethnomedicinal practices, yet organized data somewhere lacks in reverse pharmacognostic approach for this plant which shows that plant needs to be further explored for its therapeutic effect. Methanolic extract of C. crista whole plant (CME) was analyzed for the following parameters which include total phenols, total flavonoids, HPTLC, and GC-MS analysis followed by antioxidant assay viz. DPPH assay. The MG-63 osteosarcoma cell lines were used to observe the reduction in cell proliferation by MTT assay. The studies also include standardization parameters as per WHO guidelines. CME was subjected to GC-MS analysis which indicated the presence of different active constituents. The phytochemical screening of the methanolic extract showed the presence of rich amounts of phenolic compounds (4.15 %) and flavonoids (3.31%). The plant showed good antioxidant activity which may be due to the ample amount of phenolic constituents. The crude methanolic extract of the plant showed inhibition at all concentrations in a dose-dependent manner. Good scavenging activity was exhibited by the methanolic extract with a low IC₅₀ value through the DPPH assay. There was a reduction in cell proliferation at low doses only. The methanolic extract of C. crista exhibits good antioxidants as well as reduces cell proliferation which is reflected in the results of the DPPH and MTT assays, respectively. However, both are shown at low doses too.