Investigation of Phytochemicals, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Properties of Taxus wallichiana Found in Different Altitudes of Nepal

Abstract

Indigenous people of hilly region have been using Taxus as a medicinal source for various diseases including cancer. Taxol, one of its main constituents, has been recognized and backed by scientific research; it has been used as a cancer cell suppressing biomolecule in chemo therapies. This study was carried out to collect data that would provide information on the influence of altitude on the production of metabolites and to investigate the phytochemicals, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties present in Taxus wallichiana Zucc. found in Nepal. Needles were used for phytochemical extraction by Soxhlet method where methanol was used as a solvent. Some of the primary metabolites including carbohydrate and secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phenols, saponins, coumarin & steroid were present. Quantitative estimation of the total flavonoid and phenol content of plant extracts were determined. TPC of the plant extract from Dolakha and Jajarkot were 68.745 ± 0.70 and 21.323 ± 1.15GAE/g in 100% concentration respectively. Similarly, TFC from Dolakha and Jajarkot were found to be 5.904 ± 0.024 and 6.275 ± 0.54 Quercetin equivalent per gram. Furthermore, their antioxidant (DPPH) and antimicrobial property was studied. The IC50 value for extract of T. wallichiana from Dolakha was 94.72 µg/mL and Jajarkot was 129 µg/mL, which was comparatively higher than the IC50 (14.54 µg/mL) of Quercetin. Additionally, the plant extract of concentrations of 700 and 950 mg/mL exhibited promising antibacterial properties in E. coli and S. aureus, except K. pneumonia. This study indicates that there is no significant role of altitude in metabolite production of T. wallichiana zucc. Nevertheless, it could be the potential drug due to considerable amounts of phenol and flavonoid contents including natural oxidant and antimicrobial properties.

Keywords

• Phytochemicals
• Antioxidant
• TPC
• TFC