FIRST STEP TOWARDS UNRAVELING THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF AN ENDEMIC TRADITIONAL MEDICINE, BAUHINIA PHOENICEA WIGHT AND ARN BARK
Keywords:
Bauhinia phoenicea, Antimicrobial, Anthelmintic, Antioxidant, PhytochemistryAbstract
Objective: Bauhinia phoenicea Wight & Arn is a medicinal plant endemic to Western Ghats. In traditional medicine, it used against diabetes, skin allergies, fungal infections and worm disturbances. To the best of our knowledge, any scientific studies on the medicinal properties of this are not yet reported. Therefore, as a first step towards unraveling its medicinal property, bioactivity profiling was performed.
Methods: Pharmacological activity profiling includes antibacterial, antifungal, anthelmintic and antioxidant property screening using crude ethanolic extract, which preliminary analyses its folk claim. Qualitative Phytochemical analysis performed to identify various valuable secondary metabolites. All the analysis were done according to standard protocols
Results: The present work focused on the evaluation of its folk claim. Ethanolic extract of bark of B. phoenicia assayed for antimicrobial activity against 10 human pathogenic strains. The extract showed significant activity against all pathogens. Maximum zone of inhibition observed in Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger in their higher concentration (500µg/ml). The anthelmintic activity of crude drug evaluated on Indian adult earthworms Pheretima posthuma, exhibited dose dependent spontaneous mortality, and evoked responses to pin prick and effects compared with that of Albendazole. The ethanolic extract showed potent DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging and super oxide anion scavenging properties with IC 50 values 90±0.92 and 64±0.5 respectively. The preliminary qualitative analysis of B. phoenicea bark indicated the presence of alkaloids, saponins, phenols, steroids and flavonoids.
Conclusion: According to our results, it is concluded that bark of B. phoenicea has significant antimicrobial, anthelmintic and antioxidant properties supporting the folk medicinal use of this species. The further procedures of identification and isolation of the pharamacologically active principles are in progress.
Â
Downloads
References
Cechinel Filho V. Chemical composition and biological potential of plants from the genus bauhinia. Phytother Res 2009;23:1347–52.
Adamu SU, Kela SL, Suleiman MM. Liver conditions of Schistosoma-infected mice treated with some nigerian medicinal plants. Nigerian J Parasitol 2007;28:73–8.
Aliyu AB, Ibrahim MA, Musa AM, Ibrahim H, Abdulkadir IE, Oyewal AO. Evaluation of antioxidant activity of leaf extract of Bauhinia rufescens Lam. (Caesalpiniaceae). J Med Plants Res 2009;3:563–7.
Hassan H, Sule M, Mus, A, Oyinloye F. Phytochemical and anti-diarrheal studies of Bauhinia rufescens Lam. J Pharm Biol Res 2008;5:60–4.
Maia Neto M, Andrade Neto M, Braz Filho, Lima M A S, Silveira ER. Flavonoids and alkaloids from leaves of Bauhinia ungulate L. Biochem Syst Ecol 2008;36:227-9.
Alby Alphons Baby, Regi Raphael K. Pharmacognostic features of an endemic traditional medicine Bauhinia phoenicea Wight and Arn leaves. World J Pharm Pharm Sci 2014;3 Suppl 11:479-85.
Harbone JB. Phytochemical methods, a guide to modern techniques of plant analysis. (India): Springer Pvt Ltd; 1998.
Rojas JJ, Ochoa VJ, Ocampo SA, Munoz JF. Screening for antimicrobial activity of ten medicinal plants used in Colombian folkloric medicine: A possible alternative in the treatment of nosocomial infections. BMC Complementary Altern Med 2006;6:2.
Toit EA du, Rautenbach M. A sensitive standardized micro-gel well diffusion assay for the determination of antimicrobial activity. J Microbiol Methods 2000;42 Suppl 2:159-65.
Vital PG, Velasco RN, Demigillo JM, Rivera WL. Antimicrobia activity, cytotoxicity, and phytochemical screening of Ficus septica Burm and Sterculia foetida L. leaf extracts. J Med Plant Res 2010;4 Suppl 1:58-63.
Alby Alphons Baby, Regi Raphael K. Potential antimicrobial, anthelmintic and antioxidant properties of Areca catechu L root. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci 2014;6 Suppl 6:486-9.
Braca A, Sortino C, Politi M. Anti-oxidant activity of flavonoids from Licania licaniaeflora. J Ethnopharmacol 2002;79:379-81.
Lokesh Deb, Dubey SK, Avijeet Jain, Amit Kumar Jain, Pandian GS. Preventive effect of Thuja occidentalis (Linn) on gastric ulcer-a novel role of free radical scavenger. J Nat Rem 2009;9 Suppl 2:152-8.