In Vitro Anthelmintic Activity and Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Whole Plant of Vernonia cinerea

摘要

Vernonia cinerea (Asteraceae) is a potential medicinal plant and as it is a non cultivated plant it is widely distributed in waste lands and open forests in India. The alcoholic, etheral and chloroform extracts were obtained from the roots of plant Vernonia cinerea by soxhlet extraction or continuous hot percolation methods and the extracts were evaluated for their respective anthelmintic activity, against locally available earth worms (Pheretinia posthuma). Three concentrations (10,30,60 mg/ml) were prepared from each extract and were used for the study over earth worms. The study involves the determination of time of paralysis and time for death of the earth worms tested. The results obtained from the study revealed the fact that chloroform and alcoholic extracts from the roots of Vernonia cinerea possess significant anthelmintic effect. A solution of Albendazole was prepared in same concentration as that of the extract and was used as standard. A 2% tween-80 suspension prepared using normal saline solution was used as control or blank.