European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EVALUATION OF ANTHELMINTIC ACTIVITY OF KODAGASALAI CHOORANAM (RUNGIA REPENS) A SIDDHA SINGLE HERBAL FORMULATION USING PHERITIMA POSTHUMA MODEL

Dr. J. Nandha Kumar*, V. Manjari, R. Madhavan and N. J. Muthu Kumar

ABSTRACT

Development of anthelmintic resistance and high cost of conventional anthelmintic drugs lead to the evaluation of medicinal plants which acts as an alternative source of anthelmintics. The present study has been undertaken to perform the evaluation of anthelmintic activity of Rungia repens belonging to family Acanthaceae. In the current study, experiments were conducted to evaluate the possible anthelminitic effects of various powder of the whole parts of Rungia repens. Evaluation of the activities of medicinal plants claimed for anthelmintic property is getting attention these days. Natural compounds from plants provide a unique opportunity in the search for new, effective and safe anthelmintic agents. Siddha is one of the oldest systems of healthcare system adopted by ancient traditional healers like siddhars. Siddha system has marked best in recent times because of known resistance and side effects caused by conventional synthetic anthelmintics. One such potential herb is Rungia repens (RR) known by its vernacular name Kodaga salai, a spreading herb found throughout India mostly as a weed in moist soil. It was claimed to have significant activities such as anti-microbial, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesics and anti-pyretic etc. The main aim of the present work is to evaluate anthelmintic activity of the herb RR on the Pheritima Posthuma model. The results were expressed in terms of time in minutes to report the paralysis and time of death of the earthworms. Maximum time take for the test drug RR at the dose of 1 gm to cause paralysis of worms is about 362.3 ± 26.11 mins, similarly the time taken of RR at the dose of 2 gm would be 216.3 ± 16.44mins for standard drug albendazole it was 81.5 ± 11.27 mins at the concentration of 200mg/ml. It was concluded from the datas obtained from the present study that the herb Rungia repens reveals potential anthelmintic property in the tested in-vitro model, further studies which elaborates the exact mechanism by which the drug acts needs to be ascertained through proper experimental model in near future.

Keywords: Anthelmintic activity, Rungia repens, Pheritima Posthuma, Aalbendazole, Siddha, Traditional medicines, Medicinal plants.