Phytochemical screening of rhizome of paris polyphylla Sm.for antibacterial and antioxidant investigation

Abstract

Paris polyphylla Sm. is a medicinal plant listed as vulnerable (V) under IUCN threat category. The whole plant has medicinal value. The rhizomes have high demands in both national and international markets for its valuable rootstock to treat variety of ailments. Root paste is applied as an antidote to snake bites and poisonous insect bites and also to alleviate narcotic effects.It can be applied to wounds for rapid healing and also for fever, headache, and stomach problems of both man and animals. It is found to be used as a primary herb in the treatment of throat infection, breast cancer in traditional Chinese medicine. In the present experiment, rhizome sample of Paris polyphyllawascollected from different localities.Crude methanol extract was prepared from each sample using soxhlet apparatus and used for different experiments. Chemical test method was used for primary phytochemical screening.Primary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phenols, terpenoids, glycosides and saponins in all the samples. Total polyphenol content was estimated using the Folin-Ciocalteu phenol reagent and flavonoid content using Aluminium chloride colorimetric method with slight modifications. Highest polyphenol and flavonoid content values of 44.83±0.33mgGAE/gm and 6.28±0.035mgQ/gm respectively were observed in wild sample of Dolakha whereas lowest total polyphenol and flavonoid content values of 36.89±0.074mgGAEgm and 4.56±0.22mgQ/gm respectively were observed in wild sample of Parbat district. Similarly antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH assay. It was measured in terms of IC50 value of plant extract. Plant extract having lowest IC50 value was considered as better antioxidant. Maximum IC50 value (47.59±1.2843) was observed in wild sample of Parbat district and minimum IC50 value (42.63±1.4389) was observed in wild sample of Dolakha district. Antibacterial activity was determined usingagar well diffusion method.Plant extract exhibited zone of inhibition against Bacillus subtilisbacterium with maximum zone of inhibition of 14mmin the wild sample collected from Dolakha. In this way it has been concluded that Paris polyphyllais an important medicinal herb of Nepal. Among the collected samples, sample from Dolakha(wild) was found to have higher antibacterial and antioxidant potential.