Preliminary Phytochemical and Pharmacological Screenings of Plumbago indica L. and Alpinia conchigera Griff.

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the phytochemical constituents, anti-inflammatory,
antipyretic, thrombolytic and CNS modulatory activities of the methanol, chloroform and n-hexane extracts of
Plumbago indica L. and Alpinia conchigera Griff. The plants are used in the treatment of inflammations and fever in
traditional systems of medicine in Bangladesh. Qualitative tests revealed that the crude extracts of the plants contain
reducing sugars, steroids, alkaloids and flavonoids. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by means of protein
denaturation and membrane stabilization assay. The methanol extract of P. indica and A. conchigera demonstrated
inhibition of protein denaturation by 34.55 and 29.55% while their n-hexane soluble extract exhibited 46.87 and
37.21% inhibition of lysis of erythrocyte membrane, respectively which were considerable as compared to the
standard drug acetyl salicylic acid. The methanol extract of P. indica and A. conchigera prominently reduced
Brewer’s yeast-induced pyrexia which were close to the standard drug, paracetamol. A considerable thrombolytic
activity was exhibited by the chloroform soluble extract of A. conchigera (48.27%) compared to the reference drug,
streptokinase (72.13%) in red blood cell clot lysis test. The chloroform soluble materials of P. indica extract
demonstrated noticeable reduction of CNS depression activity (63.52 % inhibition of locomotion), compared to
reference drug diazepam (80.69 %) in open field experiment. The study justifies the medicinal applications of P.
indica and A. conchigera in traditional systems and reveals the bioactivity of the plants which could be suitable for
isolation and identification of the bioactive compounds.