Evaluation of cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of different polarities extracts of Suaeda maritima

Suaeda maritima is a halophyte plant used in the Chinese traditional system to treat hepatic disease. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to prepare various extracts from the aerial parts of S. maritima and finally assess the cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of the various crude extracts. The leave powder was extracted with methanol and solvent was evaporated by the usual method. The extract sample was dissolved by the aqueous solvent and transferred into a separatory funnel and fractioned by organic solvents starting from hexane and followed the order dichloromethane > ethyl acetate > n-butanol to give the corresponding extracts. The antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the prepared various extracts of S. maritima based on polarities were assessed by the well-known 2,2-diphenyl-1-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and brine shrimp lethality (BSL) methods. At five different concentrations of all prepared extracts of the selected S. maritima plant demonstrated strong antioxidant activity against the DPPH. The maximum antioxidant activity was found in the ethyl acetate, while the lowest activity was found in the methanol extract. On the other hand, the cytotoxic activity experimental results showed that the plant's various extracts at different concentrations gave significant activity. Among the crude extracts of S. maritima, all prepared extracts killed all nauplii at the highest concentration of 1000 μg/ml except methanol extract. All polarities crude extracts of this plant gave almost similar activity against the BSL method. Therefore, the extract or fractions with the highest antioxidant and cytotoxic activities could be used as a natural healing medicine for the treatment of diseases.