Anthelmintic activity of Smilex zeylanica leaf.

Qureshi Md. Shamim*, Giri IC, Panday VK, Choudhary R and Patel J

Jeypore College of Pharmacy Rondapalli, (K) Orissa-764002 India

ABSTRACT

Petroleum Ether, diethyl ether, chloroform, and alcoholic extract of leaves of Smilex zeylanica were evaluated separately for anthelmintic activity on adult Indian earthworms, Pheretima posithuma; the results revealed that the alcoholic extract produced significant anthelmintic activity. The activities are comparable with the reference drug Piperazine citrate.

KEYWORDS: Anthelmintic activity, extracts, Pheretima posithuma, Piperazine citrate.

INTRODUCTION:

Helminths are recognized as a major constraint to livestock production throughout the tropics and elsewhere (Adejimi and Harrison, 1997).Parasitoses have been of concern to the medical field for centuries and the helminths still cause considerable problems for human beings and animals. Anthelmintics are drug that either kill (vermin-cides) or expel (vermifuge) infesting helminths¹.

Smilex zeylanica commonly known as Jangliashbha (Hindi) is widely distributed in forest of India. It is a brambled, woody vine that grows up to 50 m long. It produces small flowers and black, blue, or red berry-like fruits which are eaten greedily by birds. In some parts of India the roots are used as a substitute for sarsaparilla in the treatment of venereal diseases. Among the sandals, they are applied for rheumatism and pain in the lower extremities².Traditional system of medicine reports the efficacy of several natural plants in eliminating worms³; the present work was conceived by us to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of Smilex zeylanica leafs.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

PLANT MATERIALS:

The plant was collect from local area of koraput (Orissa) India. The taxonomical identification of the plant was done by Bijju Patnaik Plant Garden & Research Center M, S. Swaminathan Research Foundation Jeypor (k), Orissa.

PREPARATIONS OF EXTRACT:

The leaf was collect shade dried and powdered. 150gm of powder subjected to extraction by soxhlet apparatus using various solvent such as petroleum ether, diethyl ether, chloroform and alcoholic extract. The solvent was then removed under reduced pressure which obtained a greenish–black colored sticky reside. The prepared extracts were tasted for anthelmintic activity.

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING:

In order to determine the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, terpenes, sterols, saponines, fats, and sugars, a preliminary phytochemical study (colour reaction) with various plant extract and fraction was performed⁴.

STUDY OF ANTHELMINTIC ACTIVITY:

The anthelmintic activity was done on adult Indian earthworm,pheretima posthuma due to its anatomical and physiological resemblance with the intestine roundworm parasites of human beings^{5, 6, 7}.

Table 1. Anthelmintic activity of leaves of Smilex zeylanica.

GROUP	TREATMENT	CONC.(mg/ml)	PARALYSIS TIME (min.)	DEATH TIME (min.)
1^ST	Vehicle	-	-	-
2^nd	Piperazine citrate	10	23.3±0.6	27.3±0.5
3^rd	Petroleum ether	10 50 100	86.3±2.5 66.22±1.5 52.12±1.0	98.9±3.5 79.4±6.2 68.18±2.1
4^th	Diethyl ether	10 50 100	75.7±1.0 58.7±2.0 45.25±2.5	93.08±1.9 70.11±2.0 57.23±1.5
5^th	Chloroform	10 50 100	111.12±3.5 102.44±6.0 75.0±4.4	152.11±4.3 128.14±6.2 97.48±5.1
6^th	Alcoholic extract	10 50 100	72.17±1.2 45.89±1.3 31.75±1.5	90.76±1.0 55.47±1.0 42.13±0.9

Five groups of approximately equal size earthworms consisting of six earthworms in each group were used for the present study. Group first serve as control, receive only normal saline; Group second serve as standard, receive standard drug Piperazine citrate of different concentration; Group third serve as petroleum ether; Group forth serve as diethyl ether ; Group fifth serve as chloroform and Group sixth serve as alcoholic extract of different concentration.

Observations were made for the time taken to paralysis and death of individual worms. Paralysis was said to occur when the worms do not revive even in normal saline. Death was concluded when the worms lost their motality followed with fading away of their body color^{8, 9, 10.}

RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

In the present study it was observed that the alcoholic extract was more potent then the other extracts. Table 1 shows that the alcoholic extract at a dose of 100mg/ml has significant anthelmintics activity whereas pet ether, diethyl ether showed moderate activity and chloroform extract is having least anthelmintics activity.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

We thank Jeypore college of Pharmacy, Jeypore (k) Orissa for providing all the facilities to conduct this work. The help rendered by Mr. Kartik Charan Lenka, Scientist (Taxonomy, Biodiversity & Ethno botany of Eastern ghat) Jeypore in authenticating the sample is gratefully acknowledged.

REFERENCES:

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4. khandalwal K.R. , Practical pharmacognosy ed 16 (nirali prakashan,pune )2005, p.149

5. Vidyarthi, R.D., A text book of Zoology 14^th Edn., Chand and co., New Delhi, 329-331.

6. Thorn G.W. , Adams r. d., BraunwaldE., IsselbacherK.J., and Petersdrop R.G., Harrison’s Principles of internal Medicine Megraw Hill Co. New York, 1977, 1018-1090.

7. Vigar Z., Atlas of Medical Parasitology, 2^nd Edn. Publishing House, Singapore, 1984, 216-218.

8. Dwivedi S., Dwivedi A., Kapadia R. and Kaul S. (2008). Anthelmintic activity of alcoholic and aqueous extract of fruits of Terminalia chebula Retz, Ethno. Leaflets, 12:741-743.

9. Kailashraj R. and Kurup A., Ind. J. Phar., 1962, 74.

10. Jayachandran E., Bhatia K., Naragunda, LVG and Roy A., Indian Drugs, 2003, 40 (7), 408.

Received on 31.03.2009

Accepted on 14.05.2009

Research Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 1(1): July.-Aug. 2009, 78-79