Anthelmintic activity of Pongamia glabra

Abstract

Leaves, wood, seed, bark and pericarp of the fruit of Pongamia glabra were separately dried, powdered and extracted with methanol in Soxhlet extractor. Anthelmintic activity of these various extracts was evaluatedon Indian adult earthworms, Pherentima posthuma. Results showed that the seed part of P. glabra took less time to cause paralysis and death of the earthworms; therefore, seeds were extracted successively withpetroleum ether, ethyl acetate and methanol in Soxhlet extractor. Again these extracts were screened for anthelmintic activity. Results showed that the ethyl acetate extract of seeds of P. glabra was most potentfollowed by petroleum ether extract. It can be concluded that anthelmintic activity of the seed of P. glabra is due to the active principles present mostly in the ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts.

Keywords

• Pongamia glabra
• anthelmintic activity
• Pheretima posthuma