PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF ACTIVE SECONDARY METABOLITES PRESENT IN WITHANIA SOMNIFERA ROOT: ROLE IN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
AbstractMedicinal plants are a source of naturally active compounds used extensively by tribal people worldwide for many ailments. Withania somnifera (WS) is one such plant used to treat many ailments from the time of Ayurveda. Extraction of the bioactive plant constituents from the whole plant or from the different parts of the plant has always been a challenging task. As the dried roots of WSare widely used in the treatment of many disorders, the current investigation aimed at extraction and detection or screening of active phytochemical compounds from different extracts of WS root. Phytochemical screening of different extractions revealed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, glycosides and reducing sugars which could account for its varied medicinal properties like anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, anti-analgesic, neuroprotective and diurectic effects.
Article Information
43
2770-2776
392KB
4214
English
IJPSR
G. Visweswari*, Rita Christopher and W. Rajendra
Post-Doctoral Fellow, C/o Dr. Rita Christopher, Professor and Head of the Department, Department of Neuro-chemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore – 560 029, Karnataka, India.
visweswari.g@gmail.com
15 March, 2013
17 April, 2013
26 June, 2013
10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.4(7).2770-76
01 July, 2013