Objective: Modern anti-helmintics has limited the effective control of the parasites due to number of side effects and development of resistant in helminthes. This renewed the interest in screening of medicinal plants for their anti-helmintic activity and the present study was design to investigate the anti-helmintic activity of Ficus benjamina figs. Material and methods: Three concentrations (25, 50 and 100 mg ml-1) of methanol and aqueous extract were investigated for activity on adult Indian earthworms (Pheretima posthuma). Results: Both the extracts show a dose dependant reduction in paralysis and death time of the worm, methanol extract was found to be more effective especially at 100mg kg-1. Conclusions: The anti-helmintic activity of extracts was comparable to standard Piprazine citerate, and could be effective against parasitic helminths of humans and animals.
Keywords: Ficus benjamina; Anthelmintic activity; Pheretima posthuma
According to the World Health Organization infectious diseases are the main cause of death and the key agents of the afflicting worldwide [1].
These infections are usually transmitted through contaminated water/food, unwashed hands, feces or contact with contaminated objects. Helminths infections are among the most widespread infections in humans especially in Povertystricken and developing countries with © warm moist environments and poor sanitary conditions [2]. Although the majority of infections due to helminths are generally restricted to tropical regions and cause enormous hazard to health and contribute to the prevalence of under nourishment, anemia, eosinophilia and pneumonia [3] and its worldwide prevalence lies between 500 million to one billion annually approximately. Antihelmintic drugs target the helminth parasitic worms (helminths) and expel them from the body, either by stunning or by killing them. Ideally an anti-helmintic agent should have a broad spectrum of action, high percentage of cure, free from toxicity to the host & should be cost effective, but none of the synthetic drugs available in market meets these requirements [4]. Moreover as helminthes are increasingly becoming resistant to classical drugs [5], there is an urgent need for search and development of new antihelmintic agent, preferably with novel mode of action [6]. Even the most common drugs like piperazine salt have been shown to have side effects like nausea, intestinal disturbance and giddiness[7] and the high cost of modern anthelmintics has limited the effective control of these parasites. This leads to renewed interest in screening of medicinal plants for their anthelmintic activity. The traditional medicines hold a great promise as source of easily available effective anti-helmintic agents to the people, particularly in tropical developing countries[8]. The present study was design to investigate the antihelmintic activity of figs of plant Ficus benjamina belongs to family moraceae. Fruit extract of flant is reported to have antitumor and antibacterial activity [9], aqueous and alcoholic extracts reported to have have analgesic activity [10].
Figs of the plant Ficus benjamina were collected from botanical garden of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; dried under shade and crushed to a coarse Powder.
Powdered plant material was defatted with petroleum ether, followed by successive solvent extraction with chloroform, ethyl acetate, and methanol in Soxhlet extractor for 48 hours. Mark was then boiled with water to obtain aqueous extract. Extracts were concentrated to a semisolid mass and stored in refrigerator. Methanol and water extract at the concentration of 12, 25, 50 and 100 mg/ml were investigated for anti-helmintic activity.
Piperazine citrate was purchased from GSK Pvt. Ltd. All the other solvents and chemicals used during experimental protocol were of analytical grade.
Adult Indian earthworms (Pheretima posthuma) were obtained from Dept. of Zoology, Khalsa College, Amritsar, and washed with normal saline to remove all the fecal matter. The earthworms of 3-5 cm in length and 0.1-0.2 cm in width were used in all the experimental protocol.
Methanol and aqueous extracts were explored for AntI-helmintic activity according to the method described by [11]. Adult Indian Earthworms (Pheretima posthuma), due to their physiological and anatomical resemblance with human beings parasites (intestinal roundworm), are used in present study [12, 13]. The worms were divided into 10 group containing six earthworms in each. Both the extracts were diluted to concentrations of 12, 25, 50 and 100 mg/ml with distilled water. Piprazine citerate (standard) was dissolved in distilled water to make 50 and 100 mg/ml. All the solutions were prepared freshly prior to the experiment. Earth worms were washed with normal saline and transfer to Petri-dishes containing of different concentrations of -1 extracts and standard (25mg ml ).
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Vehicle -- -1 Methanol 25 mg ml 86.7± 13.7 extract -1 50 mg ml 38.6 ± 9.3 -1 100 mg ml 13.5 ±2.8 -1 Aqueous 25 mg ml 186.6± 17.6 extract -1 50 mg ml 88.7 ± 6.4 -1 100 mg ml 38.3 ±4.6 -1 Piperazine 25 mg ml 24.3± 6.1 Observations were made for the time taken for paralysis (when no movement of any sort could be observed except when the worms were shaken vigorously) and death (worm nether move on shaking vigorously).
Methanol extract at 25, 50 and -1 100mg ml cause paralysis and death of worms in the time around 86, 38 & 13 minutes and 141, 71 & 33 minutes respectively. On the other hand aqueous extract shows the paralysis time near about 186, 88 and 38 minutes death around 243, 120 and 93 minutes at 25, 50 -1 and 100mg ml . Piperazine citrate (25mg -1 ml ) produce the paralysis the around 24 minutes and cause death around 63 minutes.
The result of this study illustrates that the methanol and water extracts has anti-helmintic activity in-vitro. Both the extract reduces the time of paralysis and death in concentration dependant manner.
Methanol extract cause death within 15 -1 minutes at 100mg ml and found to be -1 more potent then PC (25mg ml ) at higher
-- -- 141.1± 17.3 71.6±12.3 33.4 ±4.5 243.7± 18.3 120.8±10.3 93.8 ±6.5 63.5± 9.8 concentrations. Aqueous extract also kill the worms but was found to be less effective as it take more time than that of methanol extract (Table No. 1).
As the anti-helmintic activity of fig extract was comparable to piperazine citrate which is the standard drugs for anti-helmintic activity. Therefore, it could be effective against parasitic helminths of humans and animals and has immense potential for the development of herbal anti-helmintic agents.
The authors are gratefully acknowledging the management of Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India. for providing the research facility and financial support