Abstract

A STUDY ON IN VITRO ANTHELMINTIC ACTIVITY OF AQUEOUS AND METHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA L. LEAVES AGAINST PHERITIMA POSTHUMA

Asha Jadhav*, Ashok Muchandi, Priyanka Sawant, Shweta Pawar, Shweta Mali and Nivedita Olekar

ABSTRACT

The Anthelmintic activities of methanolic and aqueous extracts of leaves of Achyranthes aspera L. Were evaluated separately on Indian adult earthworms Pheretima posthuma (Annelida). For this work the leaves were extracted separately with methanol and distilled water by following maceration method. Various concentrations (2.5, 5, 10, 20 mg/ml) of each extract were tested for anthelmintic activity which involved the determination of time of paralysis and time of death of the worms. The phytochemical screening of the crude extract showed the presence of saponins A and B, Terpenoids, triterpenoids, betaine, amaranthine, glycosides and volatile oils. All extracts were able to show anthelmintic activity at all concentrations. The activities are well comparable with the standard drug, Albendazole as positive control. All the methanolic extracts showed better anthelmintic activity than the standard drug as well as the aqueous extract. Tween 20 (1%) with saline was used as negative control, did not showed any anthelmintic activity.

Keywords: Achyranthes aspera L., Pheretima posthuma, Anthelmintic activity, Methanolic extract.