Abstract

PHYTOPHARMACOGNOSTIC INVESTIGATION OF MARSDENIA TENACISSIMA (ROXB) MOON

*Arabinda Nayak and Subrata De

Abstract

Herbal drugs are habitually considered to have less toxic and almost free of side effects of synthetic ones. The plant Marsdenia tenacissima is traditionally used in various diseases.The present study deals with pharmacognostic, preliminary photochemical and pharmacological investigations of Marsdenia tenacissima. In this, pharmacognostical studies are concerned for the determination of physicochemical constants like ash values, extractive values, and loss on drying .The roots were subjected to soxhlation using petroleum ether, alcohol, water and the extracts thus obtained were studied for preliminary photochemical screening for detection of presence of various classes of chemical principles viz., carbohydrates, proteins, steroids, glycosides, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids and lignin and its anti-oxidant activity.

Keywords: Marsdenia tenacissima, pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, anti-oxidant activity.