THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF LEAF, FRUIT AND BARK EXTRACTS OF Samadera indica GAERTNER

Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the antioxidant, anthelmintic activities of leaf, fruit and bark extracts of Samadera indica.

Methods: The aqueous and methanolic extracts of fruit, leaf and bark obtained through soxhlet method. The antioxidant activity of the extracts were measured in vitro by 2,2’-diphebyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The anthelmintic activities of methanolic and aqueous extracts of fruit, leaf and bark were evaluated on Indian earth worms (Pheretima posthuma).

Results: Both the aqueous and methanolic solvent systems yielded considerable quantity of extracts. The methanolic extract of leaf and fruit exhibited a remarkable antioxidant activity Methanolic extract of leaf and fruit exhibited a remarkable antioxidant activity viz., 22.1, 36.4, 47.4 and 76.8% scavenging activity in 20, 60, 100 and 500 µg/ml concentrations as compared to the standard ascorbic acid. Aqueous extracts of the leaf and fruit showed comparatively lesser free radical scavenging activity as compared to the methanolic extracts. The methanolic extract of leaf exhibited a good anthelmintic activity as compared to the aqueous and methanolic extracts of bark and fruit with respect to time taken for paralysis viz., 19 min where as, for mortality it was 24 min at 50 mg/ml concentration.

Conclusions: The leaf, fruit and bark extracts of Samadera indica exhibited good medicinal properties in the present study. So the plant extracts could be considered a novel therapeutic agent in different field of medicine.