Anthelmintic Activity of Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipsch. Against Ascaridia galli, a Pathogenic Nematode in Poultry: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The growing resistance of helminth parasites to currently available commercial anthelmintic drugs, combined with apprehensions regarding detrimental chemical residues in livestock products, has sparked an interest in exploring medicinal plants as an alternative strategy for treating helminthiasis. As a result, this study was designed to investigate the anthelmintic activity of crude methanolic extracts (CME) of Saussurea costus root on Ascaridia.galli, a pathogenic nematode of poultry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In vitro, the anthelmintic effect of Saussurea costus root was evaluated in comparison to commercial anthelmintic, levamisole on the adult nematode parasites, A.galli using worm motility inhibition (WMI) test. The CME of S.costus was also evaluated for in vivo anthelmintic activity in chickens experimentally infected with Ascaridia galli. For the in vivo study, one hundred-day-old chickens were orally infected with embryonated eggs of A. galli worms. The efficacy of the plant extract as an anthelmintic was assessed through two tests: faecal egg count reduction (FECR) test and worm count reduction (WCR) test. The study investigated three distinct doses of plant extract under in vivo setup: 500 mg kg-1 body weight (bw), 1000 mg kg-1 bw, and 2000 mg kg-1 bw. RESULTS: In vitro, all the tested concentrations of S.costus (25 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml, and 100 mg/ml) showed a significant (P < 0.001) anthelmintic effects on live adult A. galli worms in terms of inhibition of worm motility at different hours post-treatment. At the highest concentration of the extract, we observed worm motility inhibition of 100% at 24 h post-exposure. On day 14 post-treatment, all birds were slaughtered, and adult A. galli worms were subsequently retrieved from their small intestines. Birds treated with CME extract of S. costus root exhibited a significant (P < 0.001) reduction in faecal egg count. However, the administration of the extract at the dosage of 500 mg kg-1bw to the birds did not reveal any significant (P > 0.05) differences in the worm count compared to the negative control group. The CME of S. costus at a dose of 2000 mg kg-1bw showed the highest anthelmintic activity by inducing 83.10% FECR and 76.47% WCR. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the root extract of S. costus has a promising anthelmintic activity on A. galli as demonstrated by the results of the present experiment.

In vitro screening and evaluation of some Indian medicinal plants for their potential to inhibit Jack bean and bacterial ureases causing urinary infections.

CONTEXT: Bacterial ureases play an important role in pathogenesis of urinary infections. Selection of plants was done on the basis of their uses by the local people for the treatment of various bacterial and urinary infections. OBJECTIVE: Our investigation screens and evaluates 15 Indian medicinal plants for their possible urease inhibitory activity as well as their ability to inhibit bacteria causing urinary infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plant extracts in three different solvents (methanol, aqueous, and cow urine) were screened for their effect on Jack-bean urease using the phenol-hypochlorite method. Subsequently, seven bacterial strains were screened for their ability to release urease and further antimicrobial-linked urease inhibition activity and minimum inhibitory concentration of the tested extracts were evaluated by the agar well diffusion and microdilution method, respectively. RESULTS: Five plants out of 15 crude extracts revealed good urease inhibitory activity (≥ 20% at 1 mg/ml conc.) and IC50 values for these extracts ranged from 2.77 to 0.70 mg/ml. Further testing of these extracts on urease-producing bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus NCDC 109, S. aureus MTCC 3160, Proteus vulgaris MTCC 426, Klebsiella pneumoniae MTCC 4030, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 7453) showed good anti-urease potency with an MIC ranging from 500 to 7.3 µg/ml. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results of screening as well as susceptibility assay clearly revealed a strong urease inhibitory effect of Acacia nilotica L. (Fabaceae), Emblica officinalis Gaertn. (Phyllanthaceae), Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae), Rosa indica L. (Rosaceae), and Terminalia chebula Retz. (Combretaceae). Our findings may help to explain the beneficial effect of these plants against infections associated with the urease enzyme.