Abstract
Ziziphus nummularia from Rhamnaceae family is traditionally used for sedative-hypnotic, antipyretic and analgesic purposes; however, scientific validations are lacking. This in vivo study was undertaken to verify the above ameliorative properties of Z. nummularia root methanolic extract. Various fractions of the extract were assayed on Balb/c mice by open field, Brewer’s yeast-induced hyperthermia and acetic acid-induced writhing experiments. The significance of the outcomes was analyzed with statistical tests. Various fractions of the extract exhibited marked dose-dependent (p < 0.05) sedative-hypnotic and antipyretic activities. The biological efficacies were most pronounced between 50 and 100 mg/kg. Further, the acetic acid-induced abdominal constrictions were significantly (p < 0.05) attenuated by the extract. Chloroform fraction of the extract was most dominant followed by ethyl acetate. The demonstrated therapeutic attributes of Z. nummularia extract can be exploited to isolate pharmaceutically relevant compounds.
Highlights
Since the dawn of human race, plants are being used as medicines (Petrovska 2012)
World Health Organization (WHO) statistics reflects that 80 % of the world population, mostly from developing countries still rely on botanical for health care (Khan 2014)
A vast majority of conventional drugs and most of the complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are plant-derived (Mainardi et al 2009). For their benign toxicity compared to chemotherapeutics, phytochemicals are widely used against a plethora of infectious, metabolic and degenerative diseases (Pandey and Rizvi 2009)
Summary
Since the dawn of human race, plants are being used as medicines (Petrovska 2012). World Health Organization (WHO) statistics reflects that 80 % of the world population, mostly from developing countries still rely on botanical for health care (Khan 2014). A vast majority of conventional drugs and most of the complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are plant-derived (Mainardi et al 2009). For their benign toxicity compared to chemotherapeutics, phytochemicals are widely used against a plethora of infectious, metabolic and degenerative diseases (Pandey and Rizvi 2009). The key phytochemicals have been characterized to be alkaloids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, sterols, saponins, tannins, etc., though each species has its distinct botanical repertoire. Most plants are geographically confined and the medicinal uses largely hinge on their local distribution and traditional knowledge on them (Saslis-Lagoudakis et al 2014)
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