Biopraspecting of some Medicinal Plants of Nepal Based on Ethnobota NiCal Knowledge of the Tamang Community

Abstract

Nepal has always been the center of herbal richness with more than ten thousand species of herbs in its alpine belt. The medical herbs databases listing for Nepal shows 1,624 species of medical and aromatic species.This study investigates the medicinal property of some popularly used medicinal plants of Nepal by quantitative and qualitativeevaluation of antioxidant, antibacterial and cytotoxicity properties.Eight plants namely, Cinamomum camphora,Schima wallichii,Reinwardtia indica, Woodfordia fruticosa, Castanopsis indica, Measa chisia, Mimulus nepalensis and Mahonia nepalensis were selected on the basis of their reported traditional uses in the treatment of various ailments.Preliminary phytochemical screeningcarried out for detection of alkaloid, steroids, tannins, saponins, polyphenols and terpenoids.Total phenolic and flavonoids content were determined spectrophotometricaly and in vitro DPPH radical scavenging assay was measured.Agar well diffusion method was employed for the antibacterial assays.Fluorescent study was done through administrating different organic solvents and observed under UV light and visible light.Nanoparticles were prepared by the use of AgNo3and the change in color confirms the nanoparticles synthesis.It is also to assess the cytotoxicity of the extract. Many extracts showed the considerable value of phenolics and flavonoids.Similarly the antioxidant property was variable as according to the extracting solvent which were comparable to the standard compound querctin.In among all the extract the highest phenol content was observed in Cinamomum camphora ethyl acetate extract (381mg GAE/G dry weight) and flavonoid content highest in ethyl acetate extract of Castanopsis indica(160 mg GAE/G dry weight).In case of antioxidant the aqeous extract of Mahonia with 138 ug/ml.During the treatment with silver nitrate every sample after colour change was with the peak at 421 nm except Castanopsis which was of 447 nm.For fluorescence slight colour change was observed in every solvent in visible and UV light.Antibacterial test was in-effective for hexane extracts whereas for ethyl acetate extracts,Staphylocoocusaureus showed highest zone of inhibition of 18 mm by Schima.Castanopsisindica showed high zone of inhibition in considering to methanolic while aqeous extracts were ineffective in the entire organism.During the GC-MS of methanolic extracts Mimulus was with 29 peaks and Maesa chisia with 17 peaks. The Rf value during TLC was different for each extract.For the cytotoxicity ethyl acetate extract was found to be more toxic for Cinamomum camphora with 30% while for methanolic extract Woodfordia was with high toxic with same percentage. Various bioassays and quantification along with analysis indicated that various medicinal plant species might be a good candidate against infectious and chronic diseases. Keywords:Phytochemical,Antioxidant,Cytotoxicity