The present study was carried out to evaluate the cytotoxic and antiproliferative activity of methanolic extract of Asparagus racemosus in MDAB-231 cells. The qualitative phytochemical analysis of the extract revealed the presence of steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins and diterpenes. MDAMB-231 cells were maintained in RPMI media containing 10 per cent serum and 1 per cent antibiotic and antimycotic solution. The cells were harvested and seeded to 96 well plate at 5×10 3 cells/mL, incubated for 24 hours at 37˚C with 5 per cent CO2. The cells were treated with 160, 80, 40, 20 and 10µg/mL of the extract for 24 hours and viability was accessed using MTT Assay. Also cells were plated in 6 well plates at concentrations 3×10 5 cells/mL and exposed to 80, 40, 20 and 10µg/mL of the extract of Asparagus racemosus for acridine orange ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining. There was a dose dependent decrease in viability of cells exposed to methanolic extracts of Asparagus racemosus with a viability of 15.55+0.193 per cent for cells treated with 160µg/mL. The IC50 was found to be 91.36+ 0.87 µg/mL. The AO/EB staining revealed that most of the cells were dead in extract treated with 80µg/mL where more than 90 per cent of cells were live when treated with 10µg/mL of the extract.

Scientific world is in search of newer and effective therapies against cancer and nature form a good source of drugs. The present study was undertaken to assess the antiproliferative potential of methanolic extract of A. cobbe in C127I cell lines. The leaves of A. cobbe were shade dried and was extracted using methanol and qualitative phytochemical analysis was performed. The extract was assessed for its cytotoxicity by MTT dye reduction assay in C127 I cells maintained using DMEM and 10 per cent foetal bovine serum at concentrations of 320, 160, 80, 40, 20, 20 and 5 µg/mL and the percent cell inhibition and IC50 were calculated. Acridine Orange/Ethidium bromide staining was used to detect the possible mechanism of cytotoxicity. From the results of MTT assay, it could be seen that there was a dose dependent inhibition of cell proliferation of C127I which was maximum at a concentration of 320 µg/mL. The IC50 value of the methanolic extracts was found to be 64.63 µg/mL respectively. The effect was comparable to doxorubicin. The extract and positive control treated cells showed orange to red fluorescence when stained with Acrdine Orange/ Ethidium bromide compared to greenish fluorescence in the control cells indicating apoptosis in the treated cells. The study concluded that methanolic extract of A. cobbe induced cytotoxicity by apoptosis of cancer cells.