Comparative Studies on Anthelmintic Activity of Moringa Oleifera and Vitex Negundo

Trapti Rastogi*, Vijay Bhutda, Komal Moon, PB Aswar, and SS Khadabadi

Government College of Pharmacy, Kathora Naka Road, Amravati-444604

*Corresponding Author E-mail: t.rastogi2@gmail.com,t_rastogi29@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT

Ethanolic extracts of Moringa oleifera and Vitex negundo were taken for anthelmintic activity against Indian earthworm Pheritima posthuma. Various concentrations of both extracts were tested and results were expressed in terms of time for paralysis and time for death of worms. Piperazine citrate (10 mg/ml) was used as a reference standard and distilled water as a control group. Dose dependent activity was observed in both plant extracts but Moringa oleifera shows more activity as compared to Vitex negundo.

KEY WORDS: Moringa oleifera, Vitex negundo, Anthelmintic activity, Piperazine citrate.

INTRODUCTION:

Since the time immemorial, our traditional system of medicine and folklore claiming that medicinal plants as a whole or their parts are being used in all types of diseases successfully including antibacterial and anthelmintic, anti-inflammatory etc. As we know very well, now a days the medicinal preparation available in the market from which most of them either not effective up to the mark or has to develop resistance resulting in reoccurrence again. Plant derived drug serve as a prototype to develop more effective and less toxic medicines.

Moringa oleifera (Moringaceae) is commonly known as Drumstick. It is a small or medium sized tree, about 10m high, found wild in the sub-himalayan tract. It contains various chemical constituents such as alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, carbohydrates, amino acids, glycosides. Traditionally its roots are applied as plaster to reduce the swelling and rheumatism. The root , flower, fruit and leaf have analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity.

Vitex negundo (Verbenaceae) commonly known as Nirgundi. It is a large, aromatic shrub , sometimes a small slender tree found throughout the greater part of the India. It contains various chemical classes such as alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, carbohydrates.

Traditionally leaves reported to posses tranquilizing effect, insecticidal properties and laid over grain to ward off insects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The methodology adopted to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of two plants viz Moringa oleifera and Vitex negundo hereunder.

Plant Material :

Leaves of Moringa oleifera and roots of Vitex negundo were collected from local area of Amravati city (M.S.).The collected material was authenticated by Dr. Prabha Y. Bhogaoankar, Taxonomist, Vidarbha Institute of Science and Humanities, Amravati .

Worm Collection and Authentication:

The Indian earthworm Pheritima posthuma (Annelida) was collected from Agriculture college of Shivaji Science, Amravati and authenticated from the Department of Zoology, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati.

Extract Preparation:

The collected materials were washed thoroughly in water, chopped, air dried for a week at 35-40^oC and pulverized in electric grinder and exhaustively extracted successively in soxhlet apparatus, using petroleum ether, ethanol respectively. The extracts were concentrated under reduced pressure and were then made to powder.

Table -1Anthelmintic activity of Moringa oleifera and Vitex negundo

Plant extract	Conc. (mg/ml)	Time taken for paralysis(min)	Time taken for death of worms (min)
Moringa oleifera	25	14.32+2.2	63.57+12.6
	50	8+1.6	52.33+3.1
	100	6+1.2	45+11.4
Vitex negundo	25	91.65+1.6	465.75+5.3
	50	32.65+3.7	322.5+5.5
	100	23.25+4.2	245.5+12.7
Piperazine citrate	10	23.36+1.5	62+6.8

All values represent Mean +SD; n= 6 in each group.

Anthelmintic Activity:

The anthelmintic activity was performed according to the method of Ghosh et al.on adult Indian earthworm Pheritima posthuma as it has anatomical and physiological resembalance with the intestinal roundworm parasites of human beings. Eighteen groups of approximately equal sized Indian earthworms consisting of six earthworms in each group were released into 50 ml of desired formulation. Three groups were prepared as control i.e distilled water , reference i.e piperazine citrate (10mg/ml) and third of extracts (25,50,100 mg/ml).Observations were made for the time taken to paralyse or death of individual worms. Paralysis was said to occur when the worms do not receive even in normal saline. Death was concluded when the worms lose their motility followed with fading away of their body colour. Results are shown in table-1.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Preliminary phytochemical screening has shown the presence of saponin, steroids, carbohydrates, alkaloids, tannins, proteins, flavonoids in ethanolic extracts of plants. From the results it is observed that Moringa oleifera shown potent anthelmintic activity while the Vitex negundo has taken long time for death of worms. Moringa oleifera is showing paralysis within 6-15 min while death is comparable with that of piperazine citrate as death of worms was observed at 64 min. Vitex negundo was taken 23-92 min to bring paralysis and 4-8 hrs. to bring death of worms. Future scope involves need of isolation of phytoconstituents responsible for activity.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The authors are thankful to staff, Govt. College of Pharmacy, Amravati (M.S.) for providing necessary facilities and support to carry out this work.

REFERENCES:

1. T.Ghosh, T.k.Maity, A.Bose and G.K. Dash, Anthelmintic activity of Bacopa monierri, Indian J.Nat Prodct, 2005,21,p-16-19.

2. Mali, R.G., Mahajan S.G. and Mehta A.A., In vitro anthelmintic activity of stem bark of Mimusops elengi Linn, Phcog Mag, 3(10),p-73.

3. Sehrad and Wendl, Mahavir chhajed, Atika Jain,A.G. Hariharan and Sourabh Gupta, Phytochemical investigation and antimicrobial and anthelmintic activity of Solanum xanthocarpum, Adv,.Pharmacol.Toxicol,2008,Vol 9(3) ,p-45-49.

4. G.R. Mallavarapu, S. Ramesh, RN. Kaul, A.K. Bhattacharya and B.R. Rajeswara Rao, Composition of the essential oil of the leaves of Vitex negundo, Planta Med.,1994, 60, p-583-584.

5. R. Dayal and V. Singh, A comparative study of volatile constituents of Vitex negundo leaves, J. Med. Aromat. Plant Sci.,2000, 22, p-639-640.

6. Kirtikar ,K.R.Basu, B.D.Indian Medicinal Plants, Periodical Book, New Delhi,1994 II Edition, VolIII ,p- 1937.

7. Indian Medicinal Plants by S.G.Joshi,2000,p-284,400.

8. The Wealth of India, CSIR, New Delhi,2003,Vol-VI:M,p-108.

9. The Useful Plants of India, National Institute Of Science Communication, CSIR, 4^th Edition ,p-682,380-381,

10. C.P .Khare, Encyclopedia of Indian Medicinal Plants, Springer Berlin Heidelberg,p-157-158,317-318.

11. Vishal Ramprakash Tandon, Rajesh Kumar Gupta. Anti-inflammatory activity and mechanism of action of Vitex negundo linn.: International journal of pharmacology 2006.

12. Chemical Investigation and anti-inflammatory activity of Vitex negundo seeds.: J. Nat Prdt, 1992, Feb,55(2),p-163-167, Pubmed.

13. Contribution to the study of the anti-inflammatory activity of Moringa oleifera (Moringaceae): Dakar Med.2002; 200247(2):210-2.Pubmed.

14. Therapeutic effects of Moringa oleifera on arsenic –induced toxicity in rats: Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, Nov 2005, Vol 20, Issue3, p- 456-464.

Received on 21.02.2009 Modified on 14.04.2009

Asian J. Research Chem. 2(2): April.-June, 2009 page 181-182