Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology

Worm infection is a serious problem affecting millions of people all over the world. Traditional chemical drugs are not fully effective due to the evolving drug resistant worm strains, so exploring new remedies derived from natural products is a good way to fight these infections. Hence, the present study was undertaken to determine the anthelmintic activity of leaves of Hemigraphis colorata.

The study was carried out on Indian earthworms (Pheretima posthuma). The effects of different concentrations of fresh juice extract, ethanolic extract and aqueous extract of the leaves were compared with standard drug Albendazole (20 mg/ml). Distilled water was taken as the control. The time for paralysis (reduction in motion and movement of worm) and death of the worms (no movement) were noted.

All the extracts (fresh juice, ethanolic and aqueous) of leaves showed anthelmintic property. The fresh juice extract showed the best result compared to the other two extracts. The fresh juice extract showed the paralysis and death time at 12 min and 21 min. respectively. In case of Albendazole group, paralysis and death time was at 6 min and 10 min. respectively.

The results obtained confirm the anthelmintic property of the plant. However, further studies are required to elucidate the mechanism responsible for the beneficial effect.