Sunita Bhatnagar

Clerodendrum indicum.(L.)Kuntze is commonly known as bharangi, roots and leaves are used in skin and digestive disorders by folk people. In Ayurvedic medicine same is used as cough and pitta suppressant. However, very less work is reported from this plant. The aim of the study in this paper was to evaluate its cytotoxic and antioxidant activity of leaf and bark extracts. Cytotoxic potential was explored using brine shrimp mortality assay and antioxidant potential of the extracts was explored using quantitative TLC based DPPH assay and Qualitative Radical scavenging DPPH assay. An attempt was made to isolate the active fraction of the plant from leaf extract. Out of four extracts   Methanol extracts of leaf (C.indicum) showed significant cytotoxic activity of 90% at the dose of 200µg/ml.  Maximum number of antioxidant bands were obtained in chloroform extract of the leaf sample. Methanol extract of leaf gave a flavonoids fraction which showed promising cytotoxic activity. Thus, study has provided lead and needs elaborate experimentation.