In Vitro Anthelmintic Effect of Aqueous and Ethanol extract of Aristolochia indica Against Haemonchus contortus.

Haemonchus contortus is the highly pathogenic nematode parasite of small ruminants causing haemorrhagic anemia, mortality and heavy loss in production. Development of resistance to the currently used anthelmintics has resulted in the failure of treatment of haemonchosis. Hence, as an alternative solution to this problem, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of Aristolochia indica against H. contortus through in vitro tests. To evaluate the anthelmintic activity of A. indica, in vitro assays such as egg hatch assay (EHA), and larval development assay (LDA) were conducted using the aqueous and ethanol extracts. In EHA eggs were treated with the above extracts at doses 20, 50, and 100 mg/ml and was compared with fenbendazole at 1µg/ml and 25 µg/ml. LDA was conducted using egg suspension, different concentrations (5, 20, 40, 80 and 100mg/ml) of the extracts, and fenbendazole as the standard drug. Scanning electron microscopy was done after subjecting the adult worms to 100 mg/ml concentration of the extracts. The aqueous, and ethanol extracts of A. indica at 100 mg/ml produced 90 and 70 % inhibition, respectively, in egg hatch. Fenbendazole caused an inhibition of 41.05 - 47.04% at 25 µg/ml. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of A. indica were effective, in producing larval development inhibition of 60.20 and 50.83% at 100 mg/ml dose, which was found to be higher than that of fenbendazole at 1µg/ml.