Cytotoxic Activity of Tinospora crispa Crude Extracts (Stem) Against K562 Human Leukemia Cells

Tinospora crispa (T. crispa) is traditionally used as an herbal medicine for treatment of gout and is an analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antihyperuricemic agent. Cytotoxicity of hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol and aqueous extracts of T. crispa stem against K562 cells was assessed. Crude extracts of T. crispa stem were obtained by sonication and maceration methods. T. crispa stem powder was macerated and sonicated with hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol and aqueous (1:10 w/v). Extraction via sonication method yielded higher product compared to maceration method in which the yield percentage of crude extract was 0.97%, 1.92%, 5.27% and 12.80% for hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol and aqueous respectively. The yield percentage obtained from maceration method for hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol and aqueous was 0.91%, 1.71%, 3.01% and 12.05% respectively. The cytotoxicity of the crude extracts were tested against K562 cells using 3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay (MTT) for 24, 48 and 72 h with the highest concentration of 200 µg/mL. The MTT assay result showed that T.crispa stem crude extract significantly reduced cell viability (p<0.005) at the concentration more than 200ug/ml for 72 h treatment using hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol and aqueous extract at concentrations 200 μg/mL, while 100 μg/mL for aqueous extract only."4). The IC₅₀ value for dichloromethane and ethanol extracts of T. crispa was 158±1.33 µg/mL and 172±6.00 µg/mL respectively. On the other hand, 72 h treatment caused significant effects on the viability of cells treated with hexane and ethanol extracts of T. crispa. Hence, this study indicated that dichloromethane and ethanol extracts of T. crispa were able to inhibit cell proliferation based on the results from the MTT assay. Further study should be conducted to elucidate the potential of T. crispa crude extract before it can be developed as a new anti-leukemic agent.