Biological screening of Hedera nepalensis

Abstract

The aim of the current work was to screen the crude methanolic extract (Cr. MeOH Ext.) and various fractions of Hedera nepalensis for antibacterial, antifungal, brine-shrimp lethality, phytotoxicity, heamagglutination, insecticidal and nitric oxide free radical scavenging assay. The results revealed that chloroform (CHCl3) fraction of the plant possess good antibacterial activity (60%) against Staphylococcus aureus while the rest of the fractions and Cr. MeOH Ext. showed moderate (>40%) and low antibacterial activity (<40%). The Cr. MeOH Ext., n-hexane and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fractions of the plant showed good phytotoxicity at higher concentration (1000 µg/ml) while low phytotoxicity was observed at lower concentrations (100 and 10 µg/ml), against Lamina minor. The Cr. MeOH Ext., n-hexane and CHCl3 fractions of the plant showed good nitric oxide free radical scavenging activity at a concentration of 1.5 mg/ml. Moderate brine shrimp lethality was also observed for Cr. MeOH Ext. and CHCl3 fraction at a concentration of 1000 µg/ml, against Artemisia salina. The plant materials (Cr. MeOH Ext. and various fractions) exhibited no antifungal, insecticidal or heamagglutination activity.