Abstract

• The purpose of the research is to study the qualitative and quantitative phytochemical constituents and some biological activities such as antimicrobial activity, antitumor activity and acute toxicity activity of Clitoria ternatea L. (Aung-mae-nyo) flowers. The qualitative phytochemical screening of C. ternatea was examined by test tube method which revealed the presence of various bioactive components like alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, glycosides, phenol, saponin, terpenoids, tannin, quinones, amino acid and sterols. From the results of quantitative phytochemical screening such as total phenol contents determined Folin’s Ciocalteu’s method were observed to be 43.22 mg of GAE/ g in water extract and 75.72 mg of GAE /g in ethanol extract. The total flavonoids content in water and ethanol extracts determined by aluminium chloride method were observed to be 33.75 mg QE/g and 58.44 mg QE/g. The values for the water and ethanol extracts of total carbohydrate content determined by Anthrone method were found to be 374.68 mg GE/g and 265.23 mg GE/g. The total tannin contents in water and ethanol extracts were presented as 3.23 g TAE/100 g and 7.45 g TAE/100 g. The antimicrobial activity of the ethanol and water extracts of C. ternatea flowers was investigated against six tested microbial strains: B. subtilis, S. aureus, P. aeruginos, B. pumilus, C. albicans and E. coli by agar well diffusion method. It can be observed that ethanol extract is more active on tested microbial strains than water extract. Antitumor activity was carried out with water and ethanol extracts by Potato Crown Gall (PCG) test. From this experiment, both extracts were found to prevent the tumor formation with the dose of 0.1 and 0.15 mg/disc. The ethanol and water extracts of sample were also studied on acute toxicity by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guideline. The acute toxicity test on albino mice indicated no toxic effect in both extracts of sample.