A Study on Ardisia solanacea for Evaluation of Phytochemical and Pharmacological Properties

The present study was conducted to detect possible phytochemicals and evaluate antioxidant, antimicrobial, thrombolytic, anthelmintic and cytotoxic activities of the extract of Ardisia solanacea. Phytochemical screening was carried out using the standard test methods of different chemical group. For investigating the antioxidant activity, two complementary test methods namely DPPH free radical scavenging assay and total phenolic content determination were carried out. For the evaluation of in vitro antimicrobial activity, disc diffusion method, and to determine the thrombolytic activity, the method of Prasad et al., 2007 with minor modifications were used. Evaluation of cytotoxic activity was done using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The anthelmintic study was carried out by the method of Ajaiyeoba et al. with minor modifications. The extracts were a rich source of phytochemicals. In DPPH free radical scavenging test, the petroleum ether soluble fraction showed the highest free radical scavenging activity with IC50 value 40.04μg/ml. while compared to that of the reference standards ascorbic acid . Ardisia solanacea was also found as a good source of total phenolic contents. Morever, the extracts revealed moderate antimicrobial activity at the concentration of 400 μg/disc. By comparing with the negative control the mean clot lysis % was significant (p value <0.0009). In cytotoxic activity test, the petroleum ether soluble fraction showed significant cytotoxic potential (LC50 value of 0.703 μg/ml) among all the fractions comparing with that of standard vincristine (0.544 μg/ml). The crude extract of Ardisia solanacea produced a significant anthelmintic activity in dose dependent manner and the activity of crude extract was comparable with that of standard drugs. Therefore, further studies are suggested to determine the active compounds responsible for the pharmacological activities of the plant extracts.