The study of total flavonoides, total phenol and biological activity of Monstera deliciosa

Monstera deliciosa is a species of flowering plant of the arum family Araceae. native to the tropical rainforests of southern Mexico, south to Panama. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Societyʹs Award of Garden Merit. High antioxidant and cytotoxic activities are reported in a few reports in the literature for stems and leaves of Monstera deliciosa. The present study was carried out to investigate total flavonoids and phenolic contents and biological activity including antioxidant and cytotoxic activity for methanol extract of Monstera deliciosa fruits from Iran, for the first time. The antioxidant activity was performed via DPPH free radical scavenging method. On the other hand, cytotoxic activity was performed using brine shrimp lethality assay. Results showed that the sample has moderate amount of flavonoids and phenolic compounds. High antioxidant and cytotoxic activity were also confirmed for Monstera deliciosa fruits. These results, make the fruits of M. deliciosa good candidate to investigate anticancer activity