Cytotoxicity of Ethyl Acetate Extract of Endophytic Aspergillus fumigatus on A549 Cell Lines

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Endophytes are mutualistic symbionts of healthy plants known for production of wide range of bioactive compounds with a broad spectrum of activity. In the present study, endophytic Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from Justicia beddomei. The bioactive compounds were extracted with ethyl acetate by solvent extraction procedure. Fraction IV obtained by partial purification with a mixture of hexane and ethyl acetate in silica gel column demonstrated cytotoxicity on A549 and L6 cell lines. The IC 50 was determined to be 8.37 µg/ml and 110.37 µg/ml respectively by MTT assay. The dual staining and Hoechst staining indicated the induction of apoptosis in the tumor cells. DNA fragmentation further confirmed the DNA of tumor cells as the molecular target of the fraction for cytotoxicity. Further structural characterization studies of the fraction are necessary to reveal the structure –function relationship of the compounds isolated.

Endophytic Aspergillus sp; MTT assay; A549 cells; Apoptosis; DNA fragmentation