ANTIBACTERIAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITIES OF CINNAMOMUM TAMALA NEES. LEAVES

Cinnamomum tamala Nees. (Lauraceae) is an important medicinal plant used as a spice in traditional cuisine. The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India indicates the use of dried mature leaves of Cinnamomum tamala in sinusitis and the plant is reported to be hypoglycaemic, stimulant, carminative. It is and also used in cough, diarrhoea, gonorrhoea, rheumatism, irritations, boils conjunctivitis and itching. The objective of the present study was to determine the antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity of C. tamala leaves. The in vitro antimicrobial activity assay was carried out by agar well diffusion method andin vitro antioxidant activity was quantified by DPPH radical scavenging assay. Brine shrimp lethality assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the ethanol extract of the leaves. The experiments were performed in triplicate and data was analyzed statistically. The ethanol extract of C. tamala leaves exhibited antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity and brine shrimp lethality. The extract was found to exhibit the antimicrobial activity against S. epidermidis followed by S. aureus. The extract exhibited the scavenging of DPPH free radicals and recorded an IC50 of 26.02 ± 0.61 μg/mL. The extract also exhibited brine shrimp lethality in a dose-dependent manner and LD50= 4.86 ± 0.08 μg/ mL was recorded. The study indicated that C. tamala leaves have potent antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities and justified the use of the plant in traditional medicine and cuisine