Abstract

PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF PROSOPIS JULIFLORA (SW.)

D. S. Prabha, P. Mani*, P. Malliga and H. U. Dahms

ABSTRACT

Prosopis juliflora is a commercially important plant genus, which has been used since ancient times, particularly for medicinal purposes. Traditionally, Paste, gum, and smoke from woody stems, leaves and pods are applied for anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial purposes. This study was carried out to investigate the acute and subacute oral toxicity of the ethanolic extract of Prosopis juliflora on wistar rats. In this study preliminary phytochemical analysis showed that there are some plant chemicals constituents present in the P. juliflora extract such as alkaloids, flavanoids, terpenoids and steroids. GC-MS result revealed that more than 15 compounds present in the P. juliflora. In an acute toxicity study P. juliflora extract was administered orally at doses ranging from 50-500 mg kg-1 and the animals were observed for any toxic symptoms for 72 hrs. The results did not show toxic symptom below a dose level 200 mg kg-1. In a subacute toxicity study ethanolic extracts of P. juliflora were tested at a dose of 200 mg kg-1 orally once daily for 30 days. On 31st day the animals were sacrificed and the blood and serum samples were analyzed for various biochemical parameters. The results of this subacute toxicity study in experimental animals did not show any changes in hematological, biochemical, renal and liver function parameters when compared to control animals. From these results it is evident that ethanolic extracts of P. juliflora were non toxic and can be further used for long term in vivo studies for pharmacological effects.

Keywords: Prosopis juliflora, acute toxicity, subacute toxicity, Rattus norvegicus.