12| International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research |January- March 2019 | Vol 11 | Issue 1 Research Article Evaluation of antioxidant and anticancer potential of flavonoids from aerial roots of Ficus benghalensis Linn. JAIN SALONI*, JEGAN SAKTHIVEL Ambe Durga Education Society’sDadasaheb Balpande College of Pharmacy (DBCOP)Near Swami Samarth Mandir, Besa, Nagpur-37 (m) : 9890770661 Email id : salonijain701@gmail.com Received: 02.11.18, Revised: 02.12.18, Accepted: 02.01.19 ABSTRACT Ficus benghalensis Linn (Moraceae) is a traditional herb used for variety of biological conditions. It is used as as astringent, haemostatic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer agent and also in the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery and in the treatment of skin disorders, ulcers, vaginal disorders, leucorrhoea, menorrhagia and in case of deficient lactation. Considering its medicinal importance, the plant was choosen for isolation of flavonoids from ethyl acetate rich extract of its aerial roots using preparative TLC method. LC-MS analysis of ethyl acetate rich extract and its fractions confirmed the presence of flavonoids. The present study was designed with an aim to study the anticancer and antioxidant potential of flavonoids isolated from the ethyl acetate extract and its preparative TLC fractions. Antioxidant study suggested that ethyl acetate rich extract has a good radical scavenging activity when compared to standard drug curcumin (wherein the IC 50 value of ethyl acetate rich extract was found to be 52.186± 2.09µg/ml while that of curcumin for which the IC 50 value was found to be 3.02±0.29µg/ml). Cytotoxity studies on preparative TLC fractions suggested that the ethyl acetate rich extract and its preparative TLC fractions exhibited anticancer activity on A549 cell line (Lung cancer cell line), MDA-MB-231 cell line (Breast cancer cell line), Hela cell line (cervical cancer cell line) with IC50 values comparable to doxorubicin used as standard drug. Keywords: Ficus benghalensis Linn, Ethyl acetate rich extract, Cytotoxicity, antioxidant, isolation. INTRODUCTION Flavonoids are known for their potential beneficial effects on human health in fighting diseases because of potent antioxidant nature. The capacity of flavonoids to act as antioxidants depends upon their molecular structure such as position of hydroxyl groups and other features in the chemical structure of flavonoids are important for their free radical scavenging activities 1,10 .. Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds have been shown to possess a variety of biological activities at nontoxic concentrations in organisms. They play important role in cancer prevention which is now into act. Data from laboratory studies, epidemiological investigations, and human clinical trials indicate that flavonoids have important effects on cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy. Flavonoids known for their mechanisms of action such as carcinogen inactivation, antiproliferation, cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis and differentiation, inhibition of angiogenesis, antioxidation and reversal of multidrug resistance etc. Because of these reasons, flavonoids may be promising anticancer agents 5 In order to emphasize the data corroborating potent plant that may be exploited as antioxidant and Anticancer agent, the Ficus benghalensis Linn was selected to be assessed for possible medicinal action. Ficus benghalensis Linn (Moraceae) is commonly known as Banyan tree. A literature search on Ficus benghalensis indicated various therapeutic uses such as astringent, haemostatic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer agent and also in the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery and in the treatment of skin disorders, ulcers, vaginal disorders, leucorrhoea, menorrhagia and in case of deficient lactation 2,3 . Preliminary phytochemical investigation on aerial roots of Ficus benghalensis indicated the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, amino acids/ proteins, steroids, saponins and tannins. The aqueous and methanol extracts of the aerial roots have been reported to exhibit immunomodulatory activity 11 and the n-hexane extract exhibited hair growth promoting potential 12. The aqueous extract also exhibited antibacterial activity 13 Considering the medicinal importance of genus Ficus the Ficus benghalensis was selected for the possible anticancer and free radical scavenging effect. Materials and Methods All reagents such as ethyl acetate, toluene,methanol used were of analytical reagent grade and procured from S.D. Fine Chemical Limited Plant material: The fresh aerial roots of Ficus benghalensis Linn were collected in and around of Mithibai college campus, during the period from June-September 2014, were authenticated by Dr. Sunita Shailaijan at Department of Botany, Ramanarayan Ruhia college, Mumbai. Preliminary