Evaluation of total essential oil and cytotoxic activity of Barleria lupulina Lindl

Barleria lupulina Lindl is a well-known perennial plant, distributed throughout tropical regions of Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. In this study, the leaves were aqueous extracted for various periods of time. The total phenolic content was determined for each extract and used for evaluation of cytotoxicity. The median (LC50) and 90% lethal concentration (LC90) against Artemia salina were determined at various concentrations of the plant extracts, 0, 400, 800, 1,600, 3,200, 6,400 and 12,800 ppm, within 24 hours of exposure. The total phenolic compound contents were 28.90+4.27, 40.87+3.85, 24.65+4.55, 13.13+2.36 and 20.26+2.25 mg gallic acid equivalent per gram of extract in 0.5, 1, 3, 5 and 24 hour extractions, respectively. The highest amount of total phenolic compound was extracted from B. lupulina leaf with a 1 hour aqueous extraction, which gave 24 hour LC50 and LC90 values of 6,058.23 and 10,895.03 ppm respectively against A. salina