Abstract

Pistacia integerrima Stew. ex Brand (Anacardiaceae) is an ethanobotanically important plant species traditionally used in the treatment of chronic wounds, jaundice, dysentery, etc. The crude extract from Pistacia integerrima and its fractions were tested for cytotoxic activity against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 human breast cancer cell line. We have also investigated that crude stem extract of this plant also exhibits the antitumour as well as antifungal potential activities. Moreover, we have also studied that the crude extract inhibited Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 cell viability in a dose-dependent manner; the poor toxicity (1.6%) at 10 μg/ml to moderate toxicity (55.4%) at 100 μg/ml. The IC50 values calculated were 90.9 μg/ml. The ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions at a concentration of 200 μg/ml showed ~100 and 97.4% inhibition against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 cell line, respectively. The crude methanol extract also showed good antitumour (IC50 125 ppm) activity, but weak antifungal activity. These findings reveal that the ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions of Pistacia integerrima are potent cytotoxic fractions, and could be an alternate candidate for the development of novel biologically active compounds.