Abstract
Anti-snake venom therapy is the only treatment for snake bite but leads to acute and chronic conditions which may be severe. The medicinal plants have gained importance over years to find an effective alternative to anti-snake venom. The present study focused on evaluating the potential of Clerodendrum serratum for the anti-snake venom activity. Phytochemicals were extracted from the C. serratum with different solvents. The ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts were found to neutralize the major enzyme toxins (phospholipase A2, protease and hyaluronidase) of Bungarus caeruleus and Daboia russelii venom at a concentration of 100 µg/mL. The fibrinogenolytic activity of both the venoms were neutralized. The study proves that the plant C. serratum possesses certain compounds which inhibit the toxins present in the venom of B. caeruleus and D. russelii.
 Video Clip of Methodology:
 Hyaluronidase assay: 3 min 30 sec Click to watch
Highlights
Around 3,000 species of snakes are identified so far, of which only 13-14% are found to be potentially dangerous to humans
Extracts obtained from soxhlet extraction were dried using rotary vacuum evaporator and the weight was expressed in terms of dry weight (w/w) where the yield per 100 g was as follows: Petroleum ether 0.16 g, chloroform 0.31 g, ethyl acetate 0.21 g and methanol 1.04 g
The qualitative analysis of phytochemicals revealed the presence of alkaloids and flavonoids in chloroform extract, tannins, steroids, flavonoids and glycosides in ethyl acetate extract and saponins in methanolic extract
Summary
Around 3,000 species of snakes are identified so far, of which only 13-14% are found to be potentially dangerous to humans. Numerous attempts have been made by researchers to develop snake venom antagonists from plants on the basis of the fact that these medicinal plants possess rich bioactive compound with potent pharmacological activity (Martz, 1992; Soares et al, 2005). The plants are Eclipta sp., Casearia sp., Curcuma longa, Mimosa pudica (Meenatchisundaram et al, 2009), Musa paradisiaca, Mucuna pruriens, Bauhinia forficata, Hibiscus esculentus, Annoma senegallensis, Mikania glomerate (Floriano et al, 2009), Piper sp, Schizolobium parahyba (Mendes et al, 2008) etc. It is said to possess medicinal value in treating respiratory disorders, fever, rheumatism inflammation, snake bite etc. Scientific studies on C. serratum has revealed its therapeutic properties for asthmatic, mast cell stabilization and anti-allergic effects, includes pharmacological activities such as hepatoprotective nature, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer potential (Patel et al, 2014)
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