Anthelminthic Activity of Sapindus emarginatus Vahl.

¹*Srikanth J and ²Muralidharan P

¹Dept. of Pharmacology, Sri Ramachandra College of Pharmacy, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai-600116, Tamilnadu, India

²Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, C.L.Baid Metha College of Pharmacy, Jyothi Nager, Thoraippakkam, Chennai-600 097. Tamilnadu, India

ABSTRACT:

Petroleum Ether, diethyl ether, chloroform, and alcoholic extract of pericarps of Sapindus emarginatus 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, Sapindus emarginatus, Pheretima posithuma, Piperazine citrate.

INTRODUCTION:

Helminthiasis or infections with parasitic worms are pathogenic for human beings. Most of the existing anthelminthics produces side effects such as abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, head ache and diarrhoea¹.Chemotherapy is the only treatment and effective tool to cure and control helminth infection, as effective vaccines against helminths have not been developed so far. Indiscriminate use of synthetic anthelminthics can lead to resistance of parasites². Herbal drugs have been in use since ancient times for the treatment of parasitic diseases in human³ and could be of value in preventing the development of resistance⁴.

Sapindus emarginatus Vahl family Sapindaceae is a medium-sized deciduous tree found in south India. It is commonly called as soap nut tree. Native to South India Sapindus emarginatus is found wild or introduced in tropical and sub-tropical regions, particularly the Indo- Malayan region. Traditionally, Sapindus emarginatus is used as anti-inflammatory and antiprurutic. It is used to purify the blood. The seed is in intoxicant and the fruit rind has oxytropic action. Its powder is used as nasal insufflations. S.emarginatus also showed strong antibacterial activity against the tested bacterial strains⁵.Specifically the fruit of the plant possess astringent, emetic, detergent, anthelmintic property⁶. The present work was conceived by us to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of pericarps of Sapindus emarginatus.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Plant materials and extraction:

The plant S.emarginatus fruit was collected in March 2007 from the Thiagarajar college campus, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India. The plant material was taxonomically identified by the Botanical survey of India, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India and the voucher specimen BSI/SC/5/23/08-09/Tech 895 was retained in our laboratory for future reference. The collected pericarps were 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 extracts were then distilled, evaporated and dried in vacuum and the appearances of the extracts were dried gum resin in nature. The prepared extracts were tested for anthelmintic activity.

Table 1. Anthelmintic activity of Various extracts of Pericarps of Sapindus emarginatus

Group	Treatment	Concentration (mg/ml)	Paralysis time (min)	Death time (min)
I	Vehicle	-	-	-
II	Piperazine citrate	10	25.5±0.5	28.6±0.8
III	Sapindus emarginatus (Petroleum ether)	50 100	68.6±1.8 54.8±1.9	78.6±2.0 64.6±1.5
IV	Sapindus emarginatus (Diethyl ether)	50 100	57.2±1.8 44.26±1.6	68.12±1.6 56.24±1.8
V	Sapindus emarginatus (Chloroform)	50 100	98.44±2.8 78.66±3.6	116±3.8 99.2±2.8
VI	Sapindus emarginatus (Alcoholic extract)	50 100	42.36±1.2 30.68±0.9	52.16±1.4 39.86±1.2

Anthelmintic activity:

The anthelminthic activity was evaluated in adult earthworm (Pheretima posthuma) due to its anatomical and physiological resemblance with the intestinal round worm parasites of human beings ^{7, 8} using previously described procedure ^{9, 10}. Six groups of approximately equal sized indian earthworms consisting of six earthworms in each group were released into 50 ml of desired solution. Each group was treated with either normal saline (control), piperazine citrate (15 mg/ml) or various extracts of Sapindus emarginatus. 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 motility followed with fading away of their body colour.

RESULTS 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.

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Received on 19.08.2009

Accepted on 23.10.2009

© A&V Publication all right reserved

Research Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 1(3): Nov. – Dec. 2009, 236-237