Preliminary phytochemical screening of Cicer arietinum in folklore medicine for hepatoprotection

Abstract

The Phytochemical screening is a valuable step for the identification of bioactive component present in the traditional plants. This bioactive component can be used for curing various diseases in human beings. Phytochemicals can be classified into two classes

(1) Primary phytoconstituents and (2) Secondary phytoconstituents. Primary Phyto constituents have chlorophyll, amino acids and proteins. Secondary constituents mainly contains terpenoids and alkaloids. The bioactive constituents presents in the medicinal plants can be used for the discovery of new drug and development of new drug moiety. In this presents research study, the phytoconstituents of Bengal gram or Cicer aritinum were identified. This gives us a valuable idea about the activity of the plants. Here the screening of Bengal gram was done in order to determine the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins,  phenols, carbohydrates, steroids and terpenoids, flavanol glycosides, glycosides, tannis, thiols, amino acids,  proteins etc using standard procedures. The results indicated the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenols, carbohydrates, steroids, and terpenoids, flavanol glycoside, tannis, thiols, proteins were present whereas glycoside and amino acids were absent. The phytochemical analysis of the plants is very important because of its commercial value in the Pharmaceutical companies for the development of newer drugs. It can be concluded that Bengal gram or Cicer arietinum seed coat have highest therapeutic efficacy because majority of phytochemical present in it have antioxidant, anti inflammatory activities.