Monira Ahsan

Hygrophila erecta (Burm.f.) Hochr. belonging to the Acanthaceae family, is a moisture loving genera and a perennial herb whose seeds are used as a skin-regenerating product. The concentrated ethyl acetate soluble fraction of methanolic extract of this whole plant resulted in a mixture of a mixture of 4-methoxybenzoic acid and 4-methoxycinnamic acid, another mixture of two ester derivatives: methyl linoleate and methyl stearate, lupeol, β-Sitosterol and Stigmasterol. The crude methanolic extract of the whole plant was partitioned to petroleum ether soluble fraction, chloroform soluble fraction, ethyl acetate soluble fraction and aqueous soluble fraction for the purpose of investigations of different biological activities. The ethyl acetate soluble fraction expressed the highest antioxidant property in DPPH free radical scavanging method, whilst the different extractives exhibited moderate to strong cytotoxicity in brine shrimp lethality test and the highest activity was shown by pet ether soluble fraction. Furthermore, the pet ether soluble fraction also demonstrated highest thrombolytic activity compared to the standard streptokinase, while the other fractions showed moderate to lower activity. However, no antimicrobial activity was observed for any of the fractions investigated using standard tetracycline and ciprofloxacin. The methanolic extract further produced statistical significant peripheral analgesic and antidiarrheal activity at both 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg doses. Although, it expressed blood glucose lowering activity, but it was not statistical significant.

Lidenbergia indica Vatke or wall lindenbergia belongs to the family Scrophulariaceae which includes a number of ethnopharmacologically important Himalayan medicinal plants. The juice of the plant is used in chronic bronchitis and skin eruptions. The crude ethyl acetate extract of the whole plants of Lidenbergia indica led to the isolation of two flavonoids, luteolin and apigenin, methyl-4-methoxy cinnamate and β-sitosterol by different chromatographic techniques. The petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions were evaluated for biological properties using established methods. In vitro antioxidant activity was studied with DPPH radical scavenging method using butylated hydroxyl anisole as standard. The ethyl acetate fraction of the plant showed prominent free radical scavenging activity. The petroleum ether soluble fraction of Lindenbergia indica demonstrated highest thrombolytic activity. However, the other partitionates i.e. chloroform, ethyl acetate and aqueous extract showed minimum thrombolytic activity compared to the standard streptokinase. In the cytotoxic activity assay using brine shrimp, the petroleum ether, chloroform and ethyl acetate fraction showed significant lethality whereas aqueous fraction showed negligible lethal activity as compared to standard vincristine sulphate. No antimicrobial activity was observed for the petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions against all the microorganisms tested using tetracycline, levofloxacin, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin as standard.