Potentilla fulgens (Family Rosaceae), a medicinal plant of north-east India: a natural anthelmintic?

The cestode parasite, Raillietina echinobothrida and the trematode, Gastrothylax crumenifer were exposed to the ethanolic root peel extract of Potentilla fulgens, an antiparasitic local medicinal plant of Meghalaya, India, to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of the plant. The parasites were incubated in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 mg crude alcoholic extract per ml of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at a temperature of 37 ± 1°C. Paralysis and death were observed at 2.00 ± 0.05 and 2.80 ± 0.06 h for the cestode and 1.21 ± 0.06 and 2.18 ± 0.04 h for the trematode parasites at the highest test concentration of the plant extract. The commercial anthelmintic, Praziquantel (PZQ) showed higher activity at the tested concentration (0.02 mg/ml). To further investigate the efficacy of the plant extract, vital tegumental enzymes of the parasite viz. Acid phosphatase (AcPase), Alkaline phosphatase (AlkPase) and Adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) were studied. Quantitatively, the total enzyme activity of AcPase, AlkPase and ATPase was found to be reduced significantly by 69.20, 66.43 and 29.63% for R. echinobothrida and 47.96, 51.79 and 42.63% for G. crumenifer, respectively compared to the respective controls; histochemical study also showed reduction in the visible staining of the enzymes. The reference drug, PZQ also showed more or less similar effect like that of the plant extract. The result suggests that phytochemicals of P. fulgens have anthelmintic potential.