Isolation, biological evaluation and validated HPTLC-quantification of the marker constituent of the edible Saudi plant L.

Phytochemical investigation and chromatographic purification of the -hexane fraction of the aerial parts of the edible Saudi plant led to the isolation of β-sitosterol (), stigmasterol () and β-sitosterol-β-d-glucoside (). The cytotoxic effects of the -hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and -butanol fractions were tested against three cancer cell lines viz., MCF-7, HCT-116 and HepG2, using the crystal violet staining (CVS) method, while the antibacterial activity against a number of pathogenic bacterial strains, was also estimated using the broth microdilution assay. The -hexane fraction showed potent cytotoxic activities against all tested human cancer cell lines (IC: 11.7-13.4 μg/mL), while the dichloromethane fraction was particularly potent against HCT-116 cells (IC: 5.42 μg/mL). On the other hand, the -hexane and EtOAc fractions demonstrated significant inhibitory activities against the Gram positive bacteria and ; and the Gram negative bacterium . Our results warrant the therapeutic potential of as nutritional supplement to reduce the risk of contemporary diseases. Additionally, a validated high performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was developed for the quantitative analysis of biomarker β-sitosterol glucoside (isolated in high quantity) from the -hexane fraction. The system was found to furnish a compact, sharp, symmetrical and high resolution band for β-sitosterol glucoside (  = 0.43 ± 0.002). The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for β-sitosterol glucoside was found to be 21.84 and 66.18 ng band, respectively. β-sitosterol glucoside was found to be present only in -hexane fraction (2.10 μg/mg of dried fraction) while it was absent in the other fractions of . which validated the high cytotoxic and antibacterial activity of -hexane fraction of .