Abstract

Ethanol, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of leaves of Erythrina indica (EI) were studied for its anthelmintic property against Pheritima Posthuma. The activity was assessed by the determination of time of paralysis and time of death of earth worms. Piperazine citrate (10mg/kg) was included as standard. All the three extracts exhibited good anthelmintic activity.

Introduction

Erythrina indica Lam is a middle sized tree belongs to the family Papilionaceae. The Bark, Leaves and Juice are being used in the traditional system of medicine for the treatment of various ailments such as liver trouble, convulsion, arthritis, etc.12 The present study was aimed to carryout anthelmintic activity of Ethanol, Chloroform and Ethyl acetate extracts leaves of Erythrina indica against Pheritima Posthuma.

Materials And Methods

The leaves were collected from Madurai District, Tamilnadu, India and authenticated by Dr. Stephen, Dept. of Botany, The American College, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India. A voucher specimen (EI 1) have been kept in our laboratory for future reference.

Anthelmintic activity

The method described by Dash et al45 was employed for evaluating anthelmintic activity. Pheritima posthuma (obtained from horticulture department, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India) of approximately equal size (15 Cm) was divided in to seven groups. Each group consists of six earth worms of same type and treated with any of the following.

Fifty milliliter of test solution containing 50 and 100 mg /ml of test extracts (Ethanol, Chloroform and Ethyl acetate extract of leaves of Erythrina indica) and Piperazine citrate (10mg/kg).

The Mean time of paralysis and death was recorded in minutes. The paralysis time was recorded when no movement of any sort could be observed except when the worms were shaken vigorously. Time for death of worms were recorded when worms were neither moved while shaken vigorously nor when dipped in warm water (50°C).

Table 1: Anthelmintic effect of leaves of Erythrina indica Lam on Pheritima posthuma

Mean ± S.E.M, Student ‘‘t’‘ test, *P< 0.001 (Compared to standard) was considered significant.

Result And Discussion

Ethanol, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of leaves of EI showed significant anthelmintic activity (table.1) at the concentration 50 mg/ml and 100mg/ml against Pheritima poshthuma. Activity was found to be increased with dose (shortest time of paralysis and death was observed at 100 mg/ml) and the activity was comparable to the well known anthelmintic agent Piperazine citrate.

Indian earth worms resembles intestinal round worm parasite of human beings.678 Anthelmintic activity of Piperazine citrate mediated through hyper polarization that leads to muscle relaxation and flaccid paralysis.9 Tannins produced anthelmintic activity by binding to free protein in the gastrointestinal tract of the host animal10 or glycoprotein on the cuticle of the parasite.11Phenolic compounds (tannins are poly phenolic compounds12) by uncoupling oxidative phosphorylation hinder the energy production in helminth parasites.13 Phytochemical analysis of leaves of Erythrina indica revealed the presence of tannins as one of the constituent. Anthelmintic property of Erythrina indica may due to either or both of above mechanism. The present study conclude the fork claim use of Erythrina indica as anthelmintic and required further study to determine the mechanism involved and constituent responsible for anthelmintic property.

Correspondence to

M.Jesupillai, S/O K.Muthuchellam, Kakkoor-623711, Mudukulathur (tk), Ramanathapuram (dt), Tamilnadu, India. E-mail: Javaharpillai@rediffmail.com

References