EVALUATION OF DIURETIC ACTIVITY OF CRUDE EXTRACTS OF LEAVES OF FILICIUM DECIPIENS AND ANALYSIS OF BIOMOLECULES PRESENT IN FRACTION OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT USING GC-MS TECHNIQUE

Filicium decipiens belongs to the Sapindaceae family, which is commonly known as fern tree, is found in the Western Ghats of southern India, small highland areas of East Africa and Sri Lanka and it is a medium to a large evergreen tree. It is commonly cultivated in gardens and roadsides as ornamental, noise barriers and windbreak plant. Filicium decipiens traditionally used for the treatment of diabetes in India. The leaves of Filicium decipiens have been collected from the Western Ghats of southern India, shade dried and powdered well. The finely powdered leaves have been extracted with petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and water successively with an increase in polarity. The methanolic extract was column chromate-graphed using silica gel G 100-200 mesh to get brown color crystalline solid, which was analyzed for the presence of bioactive chemical constituents using Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of thirty chemical constituents. The four different crude extracts (petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and water) of leaves of Filicium decipiens have been tested with a diuretic activity using the Lipschitz method. The methanolic extract exhibits diuretic activity.