Introduction

Helminths cause infections which are very popular infections in human beings. It is a threat to the human population, and they cause enormous health hazards, resulting in malnutrition, anaemia, eosinophilia and pneumonia. These parasites mainly live in the intestinal tract of the human body. The development of resistance to common drugs used for the treatment is a serious problem in the use of conventional medicines. This marks the importance of natural anthelmintics.

The WHO has put forward an estimate which states a large population is harbouring the parasitic infection. The parasitic worm also has a severe economic impact as it also infects the livestock and crops, thereby affecting the production and supply of food. The research on anthelmintics has not shown much progress despite all this adverse situations.

Helminth infections sensitize humans to other infections, and so is a major concern in the developing and underdeveloped countries.

The plant, Jasminum sessiliflorum (Family: Oleaceae), is a climbing shrub with a smooth stem and minutely pubescent branchlets. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the anthelmintic potential of Jasminum sessiliflorum extracts.

Materials and Methods

Collection of plant materials

The plant J. sessiliflorum (Family: Oleaceae) were collected from Tirunelveli district, which is located at Tamil Nadu, India. The plant was identified and authenticated by Mr Chelladurai, Research officer-Botany, Central council for research in Ayurveda and Sidha, Government of India. After authentication, the fresh, healthy plants of Jasminum sessiliflorum was dried properly for three weeks in the shade and then segregated and powdered with the aid of a mechanical grinder. The powdered material was stored in containers that were airtight.

Preparation of extracts

The plant Jasminium sessliflorum was successively extracted using a soxhlet assembly, by using various solvents such as petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and ethanol (order of increasing polarity). Hot percolation method was employed to obtain the aqueous extract. The concentration of the extracts was done with the aid of rotary vacuum evaporator. The dried weight of the material was used to calculate the percentage yield, after the weighing of the extract produced with each solvent.

Anthelmintic activity

The anthelmintic potential evaluation was done on adult Indian earthworms, Pheretima postuma as per (Ajaiyeoba, Onocha, & Olarenwaju, 2001) with minor modifications. The dose suspensions were prepared using Carboxy methyl cellulose (0.1% CMC), which is nontoxic and non-irritant used in oral and other formulations. All extracts and standard drugs suspensions were freshly prepared before starting the experiment. Eight groups of approximately equal size earthworms consisting of six earthworms in each group were used for the present study.

Group-1: Control

Group-2: Standard (Albendazole- 10mg/ml)

Group-3: Petroleum ether extracts of Jasminum sessiliflorum in differing concentrations (25mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 100mg/ml).

Group-4: Chloroform extracts of Jasminum sessiliflorum in differing concentrations (25mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 100mg/ml).

Group-5: Ethyl acetate extracts of Jasminum sessiliflorum in differing concentrations (25mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 100mg/ml).

Group-6: Ethanolic extracts of Jasminum sessiliflorum in differing concentrations (25mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 100mg/ml).

The parameters noted were the time taken for paralysis as well as the death of the individual worms. The time at which the earthworms exhibited no movement of any sort except when they were shaken vigorously was noted as the time for paralysis. Time for the death of worms were recorded after ascertaining that the worms neither moved when shaken vigorously nor when dipped in warm water at 50°C followed with fading of their body colour (Dwivedi et al., 2009). Three sets of experiments were done for statistical significance.

Results and Discussion

PE: Petroleum ether extract, CE: Chloroform extract, EA-Ethyl acetate extract, EE- Ethanolic extract

The anthelmintic activity was carried out on adult earthworms, Pheretima postuma due to the advantage that it resembles the intestinal roundworm parasites found in human beings both anatomically and physiologically. The screening of different extracts of Jasminium sessiliflorum revealed the presence of many phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and saponins. It is believed that the anthelmintic action is due to the presence of tannins and polyphenolic compounds in the extracts. It was observed that a certain degree of positive response was exhibited by all the extracts. The evaluation of the anthelmintic activity in comparison with the reference standard Albendazole is shown in Table 1 and Figure 1. The ethanolic extract was found to produce the highest degree of positive response.

The low cost involved and the rapid turnover makes the in vitro assays for the screening of anti-parasitic potential more popular (Al-Shaibani, Phulan, Arijo, & Qureshi, 2008). Ciliary movement helps in the movement of earthworms. Damage to the mucopolysaccharide outer layer by any agent will result in paralysis and thereby restricts the motion of earthworms (Latha, Vagdevi, Vaidya, & Chandrashekhar, 2008). The anthelmintics act by starving the earthworms, thereby ultimately causing their paralysis and death. Parasites will also die if they become paralyzed and temporarily lose their ability to maintain their position in the gut. Anthelmintics can act by also binding to gastrointestinal tract free proteins of the worms, thereby ultimately causing death (Patel, Kumar, Qureshi, & Jena, 2010).

Conclusion

We could conclude that the extracts of Jasminum sessiliflorum have exhibited a remarkable potential as anthelmintics, with ethanolic extract exhibiting the maximum activity. The identification of the correct mechanism of action and the phytoconstituents responsible for the activity requires further in vivo analysis. It is clear that further studies will prove the plant versatile to be used as a potent anthelmintic.