Begonia medicinalis is an endemic plant in Central Sulawesi that is traditionally used as an herbal medicine to treat cancer. This study is aimed at performing pilot‐scale extraction of B. medicinalis herbs followed by standardization of the obtained extract, including determination of phytochemical components and anticancer activity. The plant sample was extracted in a 100 L macerator using 70% ethanol and evaporated using an evaporator machine for 20 h to obtain a concentrated extract. The determination of macroscopic and microscopic tests and standardization parameters included organoleptic, moisture content, total ash content, water and ethanol soluble content, heavy metal content, microbial contamination, oxalic acid level, total phenolics, total flavonoids, total saponins, and quercetin as marker compound. The anticancer activity in HeLa cancer cells was evaluated using the microculture tetrazolium (MTT) method. The results of the pilot‐scale standardization of B. medicinalis extract met the quality standards for extract raw materials. The extract also showed high levels of total phenolics, total flavonoids, and total saponins (1.68 mg GAE/g, 64.49 mg QE/g, and 17.19 mg QBE/g), respectively. The marker compound of quercetin was highly found with the concentration of 554.07 ± 0.52 mg/kg. The extract showed potential anticancer activity with an IC 50 value of 66.00 ± 8.20 μ g/mL. This study demonstrates the potential of the standardized pilot‐scale extract of B. medicinalis grown in Central Sulawesi to be developed as an anticancer herbal medicine.
Zubair et al. (Thu,) studied this question.