Phytochemical screening, analgesic, anti-pyretic and antibacterial potentials of Litsea glutinosa (L) leaves extracts in vivo and in vitro technique

Abstract

Back ground: Litsea glutinosa leaves (LG) have been used as traditional medicine to treat diseases since ancient times. This study aimed to investigate the cold methanol extract of LG for its analgesic, antipyretic and antibacterial activities, along with preliminary phytochemical screening and acute toxicity test. Methods: In this study, we first investigated the major phytochemicals group present applying modern chromatographic technique HPLC in addition to conventional methods for Phyto screening in cold methanol extracts LG leaves. Both methods simultaneously demonstrated major bioactive compounds found in the extract were phenol, flavonoid. The purposive efficacy and toxicity were then assessed through preclinical testing. Results: In hot plate method, the highest pain inhibitory activity was found at a dose of 500 mg/kg of crude extract (3.37± 0.31sec) which differed significantly (P <0.01 and P <0.001) with that of the standard drug morphine (6.47± 0.23 sec). The extract significantly prolonged reaction latency to thermal-induced pain in hotplate model. Analgesic activity at 500 mg/kg, LG extract produced a 70% suppression of writhing in mice, which was statistically significant (p<0.001) compared to standard morphine's (77.5%) inhibition. In antipyretic activity assay, the crude extract showed notable reduction in body temperature (36.17 ± 0.32°C) at dose of 300 mg/kg-body weight, when the standard (at dose 100 mg/kg-body weight) exerted (36.32 ± 0.67°C) after 3 h of administration. In antibacterial studies, results showed that inhibition of bacterial growth at 400 μg dose of each extract clearly inhibited growth of bacteria from 11 to 22 mm. The extractives carbon tetrachloride fraction, chloroform soluble fraction, ethyl acetate fraction demonstrated notably greater inhibitory zone widths (p < 0.05) against tested strains. Conclusion: Overall, the cold methanol extract of LG leaves demonstrates the therapeutic potential in preclinical settings.