Investigation of In Vitro Anticancer Potential and Phytochemical Screening of Nasturtium officinale

Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is commonly known as Haalan in folk traditional language.Traditionally, the plant has been used for treating different ailments.Gluconasturtiin is the main constituent of the plant.This plant contains many nutraceutical benefits and several other major chemical components.Earlier some studies have been reported for the leaves of plant which support antitumor activity.This study supports plantbased diets which have been increasingly recognized for their potential health efficacy as well as life threatening ailments.The extraction was done with Petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and ethanol and investigated for the presence of type of phytoconstituents.Each extract was subjected for in vitro anticancer activity.Chloroform extract of N. officinale gives potential cytotoxic effect for all cancer cell lines but more effectively against cervical cancer.The study confirmed that Nasturtium officinale have significant cytotoxicity specifically for cervical cancer cell line.Hence, further studies will attempt to isolate the bioactive constituents as well as their mechanism of action.