ISSN (Online) : 2277-4572
Author(s): Sayema Khanum*
Chloroform extracts of Alstonia scholaris leaves (CLAS) and stem barks (CSAS) have been evaluated for their analgesic, antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. Acetic acid induced writhing method was used for evaluating analgesic activity. Both the extracts had reduced pain in dose dependent manner, at all the tested doses (200 and 400 mg/kg body weight). Maximum writhing inhibition (75.33 %) was observed at 400 mg/kg dose of CSAS while for CLAS, 400 mg/kg dose exhibited 70.13 % inhibition. The inhibitory effect of indomethacin (45.92 %) was lower than that of the highest dose of CLAS and CSAS. Antimicrobial activity of the extracts was evaluated against various Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi using disk diffusion technique. The average zone of inhibition exhibited by extract was found 10-14 mm and Kanamycin (30 μg/disc) was used as standard. Antioxidant potentiality of the extracts was investigated on DPPH scavenging activity and the IC50 value was found 47.72 µg/ml, 62.03 µg/ml and 45.77 µg/ml for CSAS, CLAS and standard ascorbic acid, respectively. Cytotoxic study was done by brine shrimp lethality bioassay and compared with LC50 (8.90 μg/ml.) values of standard vincristin sulphate as a positive control. The cytotoxicity exhibited CLAS and CSAS were promising with LC50 value of 10.21 μg/ml and 9.12 μg/ml, respectively. These results suggest into the plant extracts could be used as a potential therapeutics in many pathological conditions.
