Preliminary phytochemical investigation and anthelmintic activity of Acanthospermum hispidum DC.

Acanthospermum hispidum DC. is found in the tribal area of Koraput and Malkangiri districts and traditionally used by the tribal people as anthelmintic, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, carminative andantifungal. No systematic study was conducted on A .hispidum DC. The present work was conducted to investigate the preliminary phytochemical studies and anthelmentic activities on the leaves of A.hispidum DC against adult Indian earthworms, Pheretima postuma. Various concentrations (5-25 mg/ml) of each extract along with the reference samples (Piperazine citrate, Albendazole) were subjected for anthelmintic activity study. The qualitative test revealed that the petroleum ether extracts contained only terpenoids but chloroform and hydroalcoholic (Ethanol 70% v/v) extracts exhibited the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins and saponins but amino acids and steroids were absent. All the extracts showed anthelmintic activity when compared with petroleum ether and chloroform extracts. The anthelmintic activity of hydroalcoholic extract was comparable with reference drugs. The data were verified as statistically significant by using one way ANOVA at 5 % level of significance (p < 0.05).