PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL PROPERTY OF A POLYHERBAL FORMULATION CONTAINING ACHYRANTHES ASPERA AND PLECTRANTHUS AMBOENICUS

PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL PROPERTY OF A POLYHERBAL FORMULATION CONTAINING ACHYRANTHES ASPERA AND PLECTRANTHUS AMBOENICUS

Varun S. Mali* and Raju R, Wadekar

The School of Pharmacy, University College London, London, UK

Department of Pharmacognosy, STES Sinhgad Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kusgaon Bk., Lonavla, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT: Research in complementary therapies and alternative medicines is increasing and formulating therapeutic medicines based on these findings has become the need of the hour. The present research aims to formulate and evaluate a polyherbal gel containing Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicusextract. The formulation was designed by using alcoholic as well as aqueous extract of Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus leaves in varied concentrations. The extracts were subjected to various physicochemical evaluations.  The gel was prepared by using a suitable gelling agent- Carbopol 934.  The polyherbal formulation was evaluated for its antifungal activity and it was found that the formulation have elicited promising antifungal activity which was comparable with that of standard drug (fluconazole). However the activity was found to be due to the synergestic blend of herbal drugs. The polyherbal formulation exhibits a promising topical gel for fungal infections of the skin. Thus the present study demonstrates an immense scope for development of such polyherbal formulations and also explores the vast potential to further carry out research by exploiting synergistic effect in herbal extracts

Polyherbal formulation, Antifungal, Carbopol, Herbal Synergism, gel, fluconazole, Achyranthes aspera, Plectranthus amboenicus

INTRODUCTION:Infectious diseases represent a critical problem to health and they are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality world wide ¹. During the past several years there has been an increasing incidence of bacterial and fungal infections due to a growth in immuno-compromised population such as organ transplant, recipients, cancer and HIV/AIDS patient.

This fact coupled with the resistance to antibiotics and with the toxicity during prolonged treatment with several antimicrobial and antifungal drugs has been the reason for an extended search for newer drugs to treat opportunistic microbial or fungal infections ².

Infections caused by pathogenic fungi are increasingly recognized as an emerging threat to public health. The incidence of opportunistic fungal infection in immuno-compromised host, especially in AIDS patients has increased drastically in recent years ³. As compared with the synthetic products the herbal products are mild, biodegradable and have low toxicity profile ⁴.

Many substances separated from different extracts of the plants possessed antifungal activity ⁵. However, reports on microbial inhibition by Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus are lacking.

Therefore, the present study was planned to evaluate antifungal property of Polyherbal formulation containing extracts of Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus.

 MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Plant materials: The leaves of Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus were collected from local area of Lonavala and authenticated from Botanical Survey of India. Pune. The Voucher specimen number is (BSI/WC/Tech 273 and 274).

Pharmacognostic Study: The fresh leaves of Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus were screened for its morphological and microscopical characteristics ⁶.

Physicochemical evaluation of leaves of each plant: The physicochemical evaluation was carried out using various parameters such as Ash value, extractive value, LOD etc.

Preparation of extracts: The fresh leaves of Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus were dried and powdered. The powdered leaves of each plant were subjected to successive solvent extraction by using Soxhlet assembly for obtaining chloroform and alcohol extract whereas the maceration process was used for preparation of aqueous extract ⁷.

Physicochemical evaluation of extracts: The alcohol and aqueous extracts of leaves of each plant were subjected to various physicochemical evaluations viz. (color, odor, nature, %yield, test for alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins etc.)

Microorganisms used:

Fungi: Candida albicans, Mucor indicus and Aspergillus flavus (ATCC).

Evaluation of antifungal activity: The in-vitro antifungal activity of chloroform, alcohol and aqueous extracts of leaves of Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus of different concentrations(25, 50 and 100 µg/ml) was evaluated by disc plate method, using Sabouraud’s broth medium. Fluconazole (5 µg/ml), was used as reference standard drug for comparative study ^{8, 1}.

Preparation and evaluation of antifungal activity of polyherbal formulation: The polyherbal formulation was prepared by using the concentration (µg/ml) at which the respective extracts showed zone of inhibition. The homogenous mixture of the extracts was prepared by using a suitable pharmaceutical base and the antifungal activity of the polyherbal formulation was evaluated.

RESULTS:

 Pharmacognostic study: (Table 1)

 TABLE 1: MICROSCOPIC AND MACROSCOPIC STUDY OF LEAVES OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA AND PLECTRANTHUS AMBOENICUS

TABLE 2: PHYSICOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF LEAF POWDER OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA Physicochemical evaluation of leaves of each plant: (Tables 2 - 10)

TABLE 3: PHYSICOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF LEAF POWDER OF PLECTRANTHUS AMBOENICUS

Physicochemical evaluation of extracts:

TABLE 4: PHYSICAL EVALUATION OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA LEAF EXTRACTS

TABLE 5: PHYSICAL EVALUATION OF PLECTRANTHUS AMBOENICUS LEAF EXTRACTS

TABLE 6: QUALITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA

TABLE 7: QUALITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF PLECTRANTHUS AMBOENICUS

TABLE 8: ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA LEAF EXTRACTS

TABLE 9: ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF LEAF EXTRACTS PLECTRANTHUS AMBOENICUS  

TABLE 10: ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF POLYHERBAL FORMULATION

 DISCUSSION: In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate a detailed pharmacognostic, physicochemical and antifungal activity of leaf extracts of   Plectranthus amboenicus and Achyranthes aspera.

The results revealed that the alcoholic and aqueous extracts of both the plant materials have shown a significant antifungal activity at different concentrations which was comparable to that of standard drug flucanozole (5µg/ml).The chloroform extracts of leaves of Plectranthus amboenicus and Achyranthes aspera have elicited less significant activity comparable to that of standard drug.

Furthermore, the polyherbal formulation was prepared by using a suitable pharmaceutical base and the active concentration (100 µg/ml) of alcoholic and aqueous extracts of leaves of Plectranthus amboenicus and Achyranthes aspera. The polyherbal formulation was evaluated for its antifungal activity and it was found that the polyherbal formulation have elicited promising antifungal activity which was comparable with that of standard drug. However the activity was due to the synergetic blend of herbal drugs. Subsequently the polyherbal formulation will be evaluated for various pharmaceutical quality control tests to assure its stability, safety, efficacy and acceptability.

Hence, to put in nutshell the leaves of Plectranthus amboenicus and Achyranthes aspera particularly alcoholic and aqueous extract possessed good antifungal activity.

However, this claims demand for further studies and isolation of the active phytoconstituents of individual components and observing their effect as a promising antifungalagent.

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   How to cite this article:

   Mali VS and Wadekar RR: Preparation and evaluation of antifungal property of a polyherbal formulation containing Achyranthes aspera and Plectranthus amboenicus. Int J Pharm Sci Res 2013: 4(10); 3889-3893. doi: 10.13040/IJPSR. 0975-8232.4(10).3889-93

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