European Journal of Biotechnology and Bioscience

Authors
Shantanu Raikar, Shivakantkumar Adhikari, Sayed Iqbal Ahamad, Shakeel Ahmed Adhoni

Abstract
Screening and confirmation of phytochemicals from Gymnema sylvestre (PSA-13) collected from yellapur, uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, India and evaluation of their pharmacological potentials. Different solvents were used for preparation of plant extracts using Soxhlet apparatus, which were further subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening, enumeration was done by analytical methods - Gas chromatography- Mass Spectroscopy Analysis (GC-MS) and evaluation of their anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and larvicidal activity was done. Human pathogens were used for antimicrobial assay. Anti-diabetic activity was measured by α-amylase inhibition assay and Larvicidal activity of the plant extract was determined against Anopheles species and Drosophila melanogaster third instar larvae. The preliminary phytochemical qualitative analysis revealed the presence of secondary metabolites alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, phenols, carbohydrates, amino acids and proteins, glycosides, saponins and phytosterols. The methanol extract of Gymnema sylvestre showed different inhibition zone diameters against the pathogens, by FRAP method the antioxidant activity of the Standard ascorbic acid exhibited higher absorbance at 50 µg/ml i.e 3.687±0.004 at 700 nm, with reference to standard the antioxidant activity of methanolic extract of Gymnema sylvestre at 50 µg/ml was 2.396 ± 0.004 at 700nm. By DPPH method free radical scavenging activity of standard at 50 µg/ml was 89.32 ± 0.476 at 715nm and methanolic extract of Gymnema sylvestre at 50 µg/ml was 55.81±0.233 at 715nm.The anti-oxidant activity of plant extracts were less compared to standard. The scavenging activity of methanolic extract rapidly increased with increase in concentration. Anti-inflammatory assay of methanolic extract of Gymnema sylvestre (100 µg) showed 69.92% of inhibition when compared to standard diclofenac sodium (100 µg) 87.65 %. Anti-diabetic assay Gymnema sylvestre α-amylase enzyme inhibitory activity was IC₅₀ 10.36μg /ml with reference to standard acarabose IC₅₀ of 0.32 μg /ml under similar experimental conditions. The lavicidal activity was given in terms of percentage (%) mortality. The methanolic extract of Gymnema sylvestre showed high % mortality against Drosophila melanogaster third instar larvae, next to chloroform extract. The chloroform extract of Gymnema sylvestre showed high % mortality against Anopheles species larvae next to methanolic extract. The present study indicates that Gymnema sylvestre is rich in natural compounds which are highly important in pharmacology.