Biological Screenings of Two Araceous Plants Growing in Bangladesh
Keywords:
Alocasia indica, Steudnera virosa, thrombolytic, membrane stabilizing, total phenolics, antimicrobial.Abstract
Two Bangladeshi medicinal plants from Araceae family, Alocasia indica and Steudnera virosa, have
been investigated for their in vitro thrombolytic, membrane stabilizing antimicrobial activities and generalized
toxicity. The total phenolic content was also determined and expressed in gallic acid equivalent. The membrane
stabilizing activity was assessed by heat and hypotonic solution induced methods. The carbon tetrachloride soluble
fraction (CTCSF) of A. indica and aqueous soluble fraction (AQSF) of S. virosa demonstrated strong membrane
stabilizing activity. Different extractives of A. indica and S. virosa showed moderate thrombolytic activity. Among
the two plants, the methanoic crude extract and its chloroform soluble partitionate of S. virosa revealed moderate
inhibition of microbial growth. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the pet-ether and carbon tetrachloride soluble
fractions of A. indica and the crude extract and its pet-ether soluble fraction of S. virosa were found to be as lethal as
Vincristine sulphate after 24 hours observation on shrimp nauplii.
