Abstract

INVESTIGATION ON IN VITRO ANTHELMINTHIC ACTIVITY OF CAPPARIS SEPIARIA L. PLANT PARTS

A. Suvarnalatha*, N. Yasodamma and C. Alekhya

Abstract

Capparis sepiaria L. belongs to the family Capparidaceae, is a profusely branched hedge plant with slender prickly shrub with zigzag stem, which is known as ‘Himsra’ in Ayurveda with multitherapeutic properties. Plant based medicines are very effective against many human infectious diseases either by paralysing or killing the pathogen. In the present study C. sepiaria stem bark, root bark materials were investigated for in vitro anthelmintic activity on adult earthworms Pheretima posthuma due to their anatomical and physiological resemblance with the intestinal roundworm parasite of human beings. Alcoholic and methanolic extracts at 5, 10 and 15 mg of concentrations are taken for the study. Albendazole is used as reference standard drug and Distilled water is used as negative control. The study revealed that both alcoholic and methanolic extracts showed significant paralysis and death when compared with the standard drug. Methanolic root bark extract is more significant at 5 mg conc. with mean paralysis time at15.03 minutes and mean death time at 19.6 minutes when compared to the standard with mean paralysis time of 90.9 and minutes and mean death time at 110.1 minutes respectively.

Keywords: Anthelmintic activity, Capparis sepiaria, Phytochemicals, Pheretima posthuma.