The methanolic crude extract of Garcinia lancifolia have significant pharmacological activities with potential sources of phytochemicals

Abstract

Background: Garcinia lancifolia, a potential medicinal plant has significant local use to alleviate various diseases like dysentery, diarrhea, dyspepsia, and as a pain reliever but not scientifically proven at yet. The present study was aimed to evaluate the anti-diarrheal, analgesic, and antioxidant activities of crude extract of G. lancifolia. Methods: The plant parts of G. lancifolia were collected, dried, powdered, and extracted with methanol. Then the extracts were subjected to in-vivo anti-diarrheal activity by castor oil-induced method and analgesic activity by hot plate method in mice model. The Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging and total phenolic content were demonstrated for the analysis of antioxidant activity. Results: Phytochemical screening confirmed the presence of active phytochemicals like flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, cardiac glycoside, and terpenoids in the plant extract. The extract at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg showed significantly a reduction of diarrheal feces by 61.161% (p 0.01) and 72.33% (p 0.001), respectively in contrast to standard drug loperamide (77.83% reduction). In the hot plate method, the crude extract (300 mg/kg) revealed significant (p 0.05) analgesia in comparison to standard aceclofenac. In an antioxidant activity test, the extract contains a moderate level of phenolic content 10.78 μg/mg of gallic acid equivalent and the antioxidant activity by using DPPH free radical scavenging showed poor antioxidant potential with an IC50 value of 148.26 μg/mL. Conclusion: The findings of this study conclude that this plant is a potential source of pharmacological actions that may be a basis for further investigation on a large scale