Phytochemical and Pharmacological Screening of Terminalia chebula (Family-Combretaceae)

Abstract

Phytochemical analysis of the extract of Terminalia chebula (Family- Combretaceae) indicated the presence of Alkaloids, Tannin, Steroid and absence of Flavonoids, Gums and Saponins types of compounds. The pharmacological interest of these compounds, coupled with the use of this plant in traditional medicine prompted us to check T. chebula for possible analgesic, antioxidant and antidiarrhoeal activities in a dose dependent manner. These activities were investigated on animal model like swiss albino mice. The dried fruits of the plant were subjected to successive extraction with ethanol and the extract was used to investigate the activities. Ethanolic extract of T. chebula 500 mg/kg and 250 mg/kg exhibited highly significant (p<0.001) inhibition of writhing reflex by 67.65% and 55.55%, respectively while the standard drug diclofenac- Na inhibition was found to be 80.29% at a dose of 25 mg/kg body weight. The ethanolic extract of the fruits of T. chebula showed a prominent ant-oxidant activity (IC50-3.5 ug/ml) while the standard ascorbic acid found to be 0.2 μg/ml lower (IC50-3.3 μg/ml). For the test of anti- diarrhoeal activity, at the doses of 500 mg/kg body weight, the extract of fruits of T. chebula compared to the control group, offered about 2.6 hr. of the mean latent period for diarrhoeal episode and the result was significant (P<0.001). Here standard anti-diarrhoeal agent, loperamide produced means latent period 3.7 hr. The obtained results provide a support for the use of this plant in traditional medicine and its further investigation.