PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND IN-VITRO ANTHELMINTIC ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT FROM THE STEM BARK OF PLUMERIA RUBRA LINN.

Nature is always being a consistent and constant source of medicinal substances for prevention and cure of various ailments, including the helminth infections, which is one of the health problems that affect human and livestock in the world. Because of limited availability/ accessibility of anthelmintic compounds in modern medicine, and reawakened worldwide interest in plants based medicine, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of the stem bark of Plumeria rubra (Syn. Plumeria acutifolia) along with the qualitative and quantitative estimation of phytochemicals present in the stem bark of P. rubra, family Apocynaceae – one of the ten largest angiosperm families and comprises of several prominent medicinal plants. Out of five extracts prepared, the methanolic extract showed better yield and hence used for the present study. Preliminary phytochemical investigation reflected the presence of many phytoconstituents, mainly – alkaloids, glycosides, tannin, terpenes, flavonoid, phenol, saponin. The in-vitro anthelmintic study of stem bark extract of P. rubra with reference to standard Piperazine citrate showed prominent results in concentration dependent manner against Pheretima posthuma, as test worm. The quantitative estimation of phenols and flavonoids along with phytoconstituents like tannin, terpenes, saponin, are self explanatory for detected anthelmintic mechanism of P. rubra stem bark extract.