Phytochemical Screening of Muntingia Calabura Fruit for Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities

Abstract

Muntingia calabura (M. calabura) is an indigenous fruit species that is widely distributed in Malaysia and traditionally believed for constituting medicinal properties, yet little-known and underutilized. Hence, this study aimed to perform an extraction of M. calabura fruit to identify phytochemicals potential by carrying out several analysis such as Total Phenolic Content, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrum (FTIR), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. Besides, the antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties of M. calabura were also identified from Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) and brine shrimp lethality tests. The finding suggested that further study on the modification of M. calabura extraction should be carried out to explore maximal potential of M. calabura as natural medicine and commercial use.