The growth of dendrobium draconis plantlets and cytotoxic activity of grammatophyllum scriptum extracts against breast cancer (MCF-7) cell line / Norhanim Solehah Che Abdullah

Orchids are well known as ornamental plant but not for its medicinal value. Dendrobium draconis and Grammatophyllum scriptum are among of the orchids that have the medicinal value. Thus, there is a remarkable interest in developing methods to promote growth of medicinal orchids. In this study, the effect of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) on the growth of D. draconis was investigated. While, for G. scriptum, a study was conducted to investigate its cytotoxic activity against breast cancer (MCF- 7) cell line. D. draconis plantlets were grown on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with different concentrations of plant growth hormone, BAP ( concentration of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mg/L). The observed parameters are multiple shoot production and height growth. Whereas, for G. scriptum, the crude extracts (methanol) of in-vitro orchid and various part of natural derived orchid; the leaves, pseudobulb and root; were screened for cytotoxic activity. For the micropropagation of D. draconis, the highest number of shoots production was observed from the MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/L BAP. Meanwhile, there was no effect of different concentration of BAP on the height growth of plantlets after 12 week in culture. On the other hand, for preliminary study of G. scriptum extracts, the root part exhibited the greatest cytotoxic activity among the extracts with the IC50 value of 61.29 ± 2.05 µg/ml. The naturally derived G. scriptum exhibited greater cytotoxic effect compared to in-vitro G. scriptum. In conclusion, BAP does give great effects on the growth of D. draconis. The extracts of G. scriptum do have anti­ proliferative property towards MCF- 7 cell line.