Bioactivity analysis of Phyllanthus tenellus extracted via different aqueous extraction techniques

Chandradevan, M.* and Atiqah, S.

Abstract
This present study aims to investigate how different water based extraction techniques might affect the total phenolic,
flavonoids, DPPH scavenging activity and cytotoxicity of Phyllanthus tenellus. Four common extraction techniques
such as pressurised hot water extraction (PHWE), microwave assisted extraction (MAE), heat assisted sonication
(HAS) and boiling were chosen in this study. The total phenolic content in all extracts were found to be insignificant
through one way ANOVA analysis (p >0.05), but further T-test between individual extracts showed PHWE has the
significant highest phenolic content from the rest. PHWE also registered the highest reading of flavonoids followed
by MAE, boiling and HAS. In terms of DPPH scavenging activity, PHWE has the lowest IC50 value at 2.58 μg dried
extract (DE), followed by MAE (7.12 μg DE), HAU (7.55 μg DE) and boiling (14.39 μg DE). The cytotoxicity of all
the extracts followed the same pattern; they had a weak cytotoxicity (cell viability between 61% – 74%) at 500 μg/
mL and high cytotoxicity (cell viability 16% – 17%) at 5,000 μg/mL. A method of increasing phenolic and flavonoids
content without the usage of organic solvents offers vast possibility in the development of functional food products. This
first ever study on various water based extraction techniques on P. tenellus could cater for the aforementioned course.

Keywords: Phyllanthus tenellus, aqueous extraction, bioactivities

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