In Vitro Culture, Isolation and Cytotoxic Effect of Solasodine from Solanum Trilobatum Linn.

The plants of the family Solanaceae is used widely for drugs and medicines. This is because they contain powerful alkaloids in their cells. A rapid and efficient in vitro plant regeneration method was developed for S. trilobatum from leaf explants. Solasodine was isolated from in vitro shoots and the field grown plant (control plant) and compared with the standard using TLC, UV-vis spectral analysis and IR. Cytotoxicity of solasodine was also done using DLA cells. Maximum of 32 shoots was regenerated from the leaf explant. Solasodine isolated was purified and compared with the standard and established the identity. The increasing demand of medicinal plants and indiscriminate destruction of medicinal plant flora has encouraged the application of biotechnological approach to produce the biologically active compounds. The finding of this study suggests that the isolation of compounds from in vitro shoots is much faster and easier and can be compared with the field grown plant and can be used as an alternative for the isolation of the valuable phytochemicals.