Phytochemical and Pharmacological Studies of Ethanolic Extract from the Leaf of Mangrove Plant Phoenix paludosa Roxb

The objective of this study was to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and pharmacological activity of the crude ethanolic extract of the leaves of Phoenix paludosa, collected from the sundarbans of Sathkhira range (specifically from Koromjol), Bangladesh. Phytochemical analyses were done by chemical group test. Antidiarrhoeal activities were assessed by castor oil-induced diarrhoea models in mice. Analgesic activities were studied using the model of acetic acid-induced writhing in mice, cytotoxic activity by brine shrimp lethality bioassay and antioxidant activity was measured by 1,1-diphenyl-2picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) methods. Steroids, glycosides, tannins, flavonoid and gums were found in the group tests. The extract exhibited moderate cytotoxicity with LC50 of 6.67 μg/mL and LC90 of 34.81 μg/mL and also showed statistically significant (p=0.009) analgesic effect. In antidiarrhoeal test, the extract increased the latent period significantly (p 0.05) and reduced the total number of passing liquid stool at all doses. When tested for in vitro antioxidant activity against stable DPPH, it was found to exhibit prominent free radical scavenging effect. The results obtained in this study suggested that P. paludosa has antidiarrhoeal and analgesic activities with moderate cytotoxic effect. It also has prominent antioxidant effect. These activity may be due to the presence of steroid, flavonoids and saponins in the extract