Phytochemical investigation and assessment of pharmacological properties of leaves of Duabanga grandiflora

Abstract

Duabanga grandiflora- a medicinal plant from Lythraceae family, is native to some countries of South Asian region. This plant has many uses in folk medicine. But there are lack of scientific reports comparing to its therapeutic importance. Our study was designed to assess phytochemical and biological effects of D. grandiflora leaves. From the phytochemical investigation we came to know that this extract possesses many important phytochemical groups as secondary metabolites. This extract showed the presence of many antioxidant compounds in both qualitative and quantitative antioxidant assays. In DPPH radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay, the SC50 were 58 and 50 μg/ml, respectively. In FeCl3 reducing power assay, the RC50 was found to be 57 μg/ml. Total content of phenolic, flavonoid and tannin were measured as 127 mg GAE/g, 285 mg QE/g and 132 mg GAE/g, respectively. This plant showed significant blood glucose level reduction over the short period of time in oral glucose tolerance test and for long term in alloxan-induced diabetic tests, although it did not express any significant response to α-glucosidase enzyme inhibition. In acetic acid-induced writhing test, this plant showed significant pain inhibition which was followed by significant reduction in paw edema induced by formalin. D. grandiflora increased the latency of defecation and decreased the stool count in castor oil-induced diarrheal test. Lastly, we also observed prominent CNS depression activity of this extract in open field model in mice. All of these results were compared with standard drugs and the responses were found in dose-dependent manner. These observations signify the utilization of this plant in folk medicinal system and we hope that these initial results will be beneficial to conduct higher research on this plant to isolate newer bioactive molecules.