No abstract

Plants remain a vibrant source of diverse bioactive phytochemicals that are secondary metabolites protecting them from infections and predations. Magnolia champaca is reported to possess a multitude of phytochemicals. In the present study, the phytochemical constituents of the methanolic extract of Magnolia champaca leaves were analysed qualitatively and with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis was performed to identify the chemical nature of the extract and to find structurally similar compounds. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes, glycosides, phenols, steroids, tannins and saponins. FTIR spectroscopic analysis revealed structurally related compounds. GC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of 99 diverse compounds with varied biological activities, among which 1,2,4-butanetriol, n-hexadecanoic acid, cis vaccenic acid, phytol, trans longipinocarveol and caryophyllene oxide were found predominantly. Thus, the identification and characterisation of the phytochemicals in the extract favour the development of novel therapeutic agents.

Lactoferrin, a minor whey protein, possesses a multitude of biological functions including antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and antitumour activities. The present study focuses on the antitumour activity of lactoferrin isolated from Malabari goats. Lactoferrin was isolated from Malabari goat colostrum by Cation exchange chromatography. The purity of the isolated protein was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and its identity was ascertained by Western Blotting. Solid tumours were induced in hind limbs of Swiss Albino mice using Daltons lymphoma ascites cells. Animals which developed the tumours were divided into groups and administered different doses of Malabari goat lactoferrin (MgLf) intratumourally as a single dose. The tumour positive animals were sacrificed on day 10 post treatment to study the effects of MgLf on tumour growth kinetics by assessing the tumour weight: body weight ratio and tumour volume inhibition of the slaughtered animals. It was found that MgLf @150μg significantly lowered the tumour weight: body weight ratio and tumour volume of the treated animals.