Anti-ulcer (ulcer-preventive) activity of ficus arnottiana miq. (moraceae) leaf...

• Author(s): Gregory, Marslin ; Vithalrao, K. P. ; Gregory, Franklin ; Kalaichelvan, V. K.
• Date: 2009
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/10497
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Ficus arnottiana; Flavonoids; Gastric volume; Ulcer area; Omeprazole
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Problem statement: In spite of being one of the well-known medicinal plants used in Indian traditional medicine to treat several ailments, studies pertaining to the pharmacological properties of Ficus arnottiana are very scarce. We studied the anti-ulcer activity and acute toxicity of Ficus arnottiana leaf methanolic extract for the first time. Approach: Freshly collected F. arnottiana leaves were dried, powdered and extracted in methanol. To study the anti-ulcer activity, Wistar rats were orally administered with different doses of the extract (0, 250 and 500 mg kg-1 body weight day-1) or with the reference drug omeprazole (8 mg kg-1) for 10 days. After induction of ulcer using 5 mL kg-1 ethanol, stomachs of these animals were analyzed for gastric volume, ulcer area and gross pathological changes. Results: Our results showed that F. arnottiana methanolic extract could prevent ulcer in rats in a dose-dependent manner. Histological studies revealed that the extract had mucoprotective activity. The extract did not show any acute toxicity even at the dose of 5000 mg kg-1 indicating that the extract has no lethal effect. Preliminary phytochemical screening of this extract identified the presence of important secondary metabolites like flavonoids and tannins. Conclusion/Recommendations: From this study, it is clear that F. arnottiana leaf extract had significant anti-ulcer activity in animal models. It had muco-protective activity and gastric antisecretary activity. The extract is non-toxic even at relatively high concentrations.