Anthelmintic, Neuropharmacological and Analgesic Activities of Extracts from the Aerial Part of Eclipta alba L.

Abstract

The current study was aimed to investigate the anthelmintic, neuropharmacological and analgesic activities of extracts from the aerial part of the plant Eclipta alba L. (Family: Asteraceae). The anthelmintic activity was performed by observing the time of paralysis and the time of death of earthworms Pheretima posthuma compared with the standard drug, albendazole. The range of minimum to maximum time of paralysis and death of albendazole at the conc. 100 mg/ml was 2 min.6 sec to 9 min.23 sec; whereas, the range of minimum to maximum time of paralysis and death of the fresh leaf juice was 11 min.55 sec. to 19 min.25 sec. respectively. The results confirmed the presence of moderate anthelmintic activity in the fresh leaf juice of E. alba. The neuropharmacological screening was evaluated by hole cross and open field tests in Swiss albino mice at a dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight where a significant and dose dependent suppression of motor activity and exploratory behavior was observed in the methanolic extract of aerial plant part with the reference sedative drug, diazepam. The analgesic activity was evaluated by using acetic acid-induced writhing test and tail-flick method at the same doses for both standard and plant part. The result displayed 35.24 and 52.95% of inhibition respectively in acetic acid-induced writhing test which revealed mild analgesic activity when compared to the reference standard drug, dicholophenac-Na whose writhing inhibition was 73.36%. The analgesic activity in tail-flick method was dose dependent.

Keywords: Eclipta alba, Asteraceae, anthelmintic activity, neuropharmacological property, analgesic activity

Cite this Article

Israt Sarmin, Sadia Afreen Chowdhury. Anthelmintic, Neuropharmacological and Analgesic Activities of Extracts from the Aerial Part of Eclipta alba L. Research and Reviews: Journal of Herbal Sciences. 2016; 5(1): 1–5p.