ABSTRACT:
Plants are the backbone of life on earth and an essential resource for humans. Everything humans consume is obtained from plants directly or indirectly. In the Indian mythology several plants with various properties of healing have been mentioned earlier, thus the history of use of medicinal plants in India dates back to 3500-1800 BC. These medicinal plants contain active principles which are highly potent against parasites. Parasites cause a quantum of health hazards and economic losses to human beings and animals. Therefore, medicinal plants are still a concern of research for their anthelmintic activity and other beneficial effects; because of increasing contraindications in the application of synthetic medicines. In the current study, experiments were conducted to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of ethnolic and ethyl acetate extracts of fruits of Tamilnadia uliginosa using Pheretima Posthuma. Various concentrations (25, 50, 100 mg/ml) of all extracts were tested and results were expressed in terms of time for paralysis and time for death of worms. Albendazole was used as a reference standard and saline water as a control group. Dose dependent activity was observed in extracts but ethnolic extract shows more activity as compared to ethyl acetate extract.