Antioxidant, anti-enzymatic, antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties of Euphorbia tirucalli L.

Medicinal properties of Euphorbia tirucalli L. have been investigated in vitro. Water extract from the plant latex was freeze dried and tested against 3 digestive enzymes and showed IC50 as 39.8{+/-}0.22, 79.43{+/-}0.38 and 316.22{+/-}0.3 for lipase, alpha- glucosidase and alpha- amylase, respectively. These results were incomparable with drugs such as acarbose and orlistat. Antioxidant property showed that the IC50 values of E. tirucalli and Trolox were 79.43{+/-}0.69 and 3.1 {+/-}0.92 respectively. Also, the plant extract exhibited a range of antimicrobial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and pathogenic yeast and fungi. Cytotoxicity of the plant extract tested on Caco-2 cells was determined using MTT method. The effect was linear and almost 0.5 mg/ml extract has inhibited 50% of cells relative to the control. Euphorbia tirucalli showed promising activities and is potential source of active ingredient with functional properties.