Phytochemical Screening and Anthelmintic Activity Studies of Various Extracts of Leaves of Eupatorium odoratum Linn.

 

Anup Kumar Chakraborty*, Prabhat Kumar Jena, Bhabani Shankar Nayak and Shamim Quereshi

Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jeypore College of Pharmacy, Rondapalli, Jeypore - 764002, Koraput, Odisha, India.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: anup.ckbty@yahoo.co.in

ABSTRACT:

Eupatorium odoratum Linn is found all over tropical Asia, western Africa and in parts of Australia. Extraction of the leaves of the plant Eupatoriun odoratum using different solvents like petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanol and their anthelmintic activity studies has been envisage in this present research work. All the different extracts such as petroleum ether extract, chloroform extract and ethanolic extract has been subjected to anthelmintic activity studies. The present studies reveals that the ethanolic extract was endowed with potent anthelmintic property as compared to other extracts. The petroleum ether and chloroform extract were also possesses significant activity. The activity reveals concentration dependent nature of the different extract.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Eupatorium odoratum is a shrub of the sunflower family native to North America, from Florida and Texas to Mexico and the West Indies¹ (Family: Asteraceae). It is now found all over tropical Asia, Western Africa and in parts of Australia. It is sometimes grown as a medicinal and ornamental plant. It is used as a traditional medicinal in Indonesia. It is now considered more closely related to other genera in the tribe Eupatorieae. Boneset although poisonous to humans and grazing livestock, has been used in folk medicine^1,2. The literature survey reveals that various parts of Eupatorium odoratum possesses many activities like immunomodulator, antispasmodic, hepatoprotective, antiprotozoal, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic etc.  The aqueous extract of the leaves of Eupatorium odoratum has been found to show numerous pharmacological activity such as anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiadrogenic etc^3,4. In this research work the leaves of Eupatorium odoratum was extracted using different solvents like petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol. All this extracts are then subjected to anthelmintic activity studies.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Plant material:

Eupatorium odoratum leaves were collected from local area of Koraput (Orissa) India. The taxonomical identification of the plant was done by Biju Patnaik Plant Garden and Research center, M. S. Swaminathan research foundation, Jeypore (K), Odisha.

 

Preparation of extract of leaves of Eupatorium odoratum:

The dried leaves were powdered. 150 g of powder was subjected to extraction using Soxhlet apparatus with various solvents like petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol. The solvent was then removed under reduced pressure which will give a greenish-black colored sticky residue. The prepared extract was then subjected to anthelmintic activity studies.

 

Preliminary phytochemical Screening:

The ethanolic fractions were subjected to different preliminary qualitative chemical investigation and it was found that Eupatorium odoratum contain carbohydrates, glycosides, alkaloids, tannins as depicted in Table 1^5,6.

 

Collection and grouping of roundworms:

The earthworm P. posthuma were collected from moist soil and washed with normal saline to remove all the faecal matter. The anthelmintic activity was evaluated on adult Indian earthworm’s P. posthuma due to its anatomical and physiological resemblance with the intestinal roundworm parasites of human beings^7,8. The earthworms were divided into 18 groups; each group containing 5 worms.

 

Fig 1.   Anthelmintic activities of various extracts of Eupatorium odoratum. Each bar is represented as mean ± standard error of mean (n = 6).

 

 

Table 1. Preliminary phytochemicals screening of different plant extracts.

Tests	Pet. Ether extract	Chloroform extract	Ethanolic extract
Carbohydrate	-	+	+
Proteins	-	-	-
Sterols	+	+	-
Triterpenoids	+	+	-
Glycosides	-	-	+
Saponins	-	-	-
Alkaloids	+	+	+
Flavanoids	+	+	-
Tannins	+	+	-

(+) indicates presence, (-) indicates absence.

 

Anthelmintic activity:

The first group (I) served as Control which was treated with vehicle (5% DMF in normal saline). The second (II) and third group (III) served as a standard which was treated with piperazine citrate 10mg/ml and albendazole 15mg/ml. Groups III, IV, V was treated with petroleum ether, ethanolic and chloroform extracts at various concentrations (2.5, 5.0, 10, 25, 50mg/ml) respectively. The time taken by worms to paralysis and death was noted. Death was ascertained by applying external stimuli which stimulate and induce movements in worms as well as fade of the body color was noted^9,10.

 

Statistical analysis:

The data of biochemical estimations was reported as ±SEM, where n=6. For determining the statistical significance, analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5 % level significance and Dunnet’s t- test was employed. P values <0.05 were considered significant¹¹.

 

RESULT:

The present investigation reveals that the ethanolic extract was endowed with potent anthelmintic property as compared to other extracts. The petroleum ether and chloroform extract were also possesses significant activity. The activity reveals the concentration dependent nature of the different extracts. The extracts were also found to be lethal to the worm’s upto concentration of 10mg/ml in petroleum ether extract and upto 5mg/ml in other too and paralysis occur upto a concentration of 5mg/ml in all extracts. Potency of the extract was found to be inversely proportional to the time taken for paralysis or death of the worms as represented in Table 1 and fig 1. The activities were compared with the reference piperazine citrate and albendazole. The above finding justifies the Anthelmintic properties of the plant as suggested by the folklore practice.

 

DISCUSSION:

The anthelmintic activity of leaves of Eupatorium odoratum Linn. was studied in this present research work. In the Anthelmintic study it was observed that the ethanolic extract was more potent than the other two extracts (petroleum ether and chloroform extract) even though all the three extracts were endowed with Anthelmintic property. The order of Anthelmintic activity was found to be ethanolic extract> chloroform extract> petroleum ether extract. The activity reveals concentration dependent nature of the different extracts. Potency of the extracts was found to be inversely proportional to the time taken for paralysis or death of the worms.

 

 

Table 2. Anthelmintic activity of different extracts of Eupatorium odoratum.

Group	Treatment	Concentration (mg/ml)	Time taken for paralysis (min)   (X±SEM)	Time taken for death (min) (X±SEM)
1	Vehicle	-	-	-
2	Piperazine citrate	10	18.50 ± 0.31	-
3	Albendazole	15	34.66 ± 0.72	63.83 ± 0.79
4	Ethanolic extract	2.5	37.81 ± 0.81	-
5	Ethanolic extract	5	24.841 ± 1.85	33.08 ± 3.098
6	Ethanolic extract	10	17.39 ± 0.539	28.543 ± 1.065
7	Ethanolic extract	25	16.788 ± 0.378	21.441 ± 1.100
8	Ethanolic extract	50	8.877 ± 0.310	18.11 ± 1.67
9	Pet. Ether extract	2.5	26.79 ± 1.33	-
10	Pet. Ether extract	5	18.83 ± 0.805	25.84 ± 0.776
11	Pet. Ether extract	10	15.56 ± 1.752	20.57 ± 0.687
12	Pet. Ether extract	25	13.71 ± 0.596	19.23 ± 0.855
13	Pet. Ether extract	50	7.42 ± 0.589	14.588 ± 0.273
14	Chlorofom extract	2.5	27.683 ± 0.811	-
15	Chlorofom extract	5	21.433 ± 0.854	27.783 ± 0.331
16	Chlorofom extract	10	17.65 ± 1.075	25.866 ± 0.388
17	Chlorofom extract	25	16.58 ± 0.304	20.5 ± 1.165
18	Chlorofom extract	50	8.11 ± 0.081	14.9 ± 0.199

Each values is represented as mean ± standard error of mean (n = 6).

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Authors are thankful to Jeypore College of pharmacy authorities and all departments of this college for good co-operation during this research work, also to local people of Koraput district and M. S. Swaminathan Research foundation, Jeypore, Odisha, for giving valuable information about the plant.

 

REFERENCES:

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7.       Triratana T, Suwannuraks R, Naengchomnong W. Effect of Eupatorium odoratum on blood coagulation. J of Med Association of Thailand 1991; 74(5): 283-287.

8.       Thorn GW. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. Mc Grew Hill, New York. 1977.

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Received on 07.01.2010       Modified on 22.02.2010

Accepted on 15.03.2010      © RJPT All right reserved