IN VITRO ANTHELMINTIC POTENTIAL OF PERSICARIA CHINENSIS LEAVES
The applications of medicinal plants to fight against diseases were commonly used in daily life of human beings since ancient time. Medicinal plants are better choices for treatment of various diseases such as internal helminthic infections because they overcome most weaknesses of modern anthelmintics such as multidrug resistance problem and side effects. Due to the limited investigation performed on anthelmintic activity of plants, the present study was aimed to screen the anthelmintic potency of Persicaria chinensis (L.) H. Gross leaf extracts. Petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and aqueous extracts of P. chinensis leaves were prepared by cold maceration technique and these extracts were subjected to preliminary phytoconstituent studies. The anthelmintic activity of P. chinensis was carried out against the selected size and length of adult earthworms Pheretima posthuma. The time to paralyze earthworms and the time of death were recorded. All the results were well compared with the standard drug albendazole. Aqueous and methanol extracts showed good in vitro anthelmintic activity in dosedependent manner. The anthelmintic efficacy of P. chinensis leaf extracts may be implied by the presence of chemical principles like saponins and tannins. In a nutshell, the traditional anthelmintic claim of P. chinensis was justified through this study and it may be developed into an alternative for expelling intestinal parasitic nematodes.