Antioxidant properties and in vitro effects on amphistomes of certain medicinal plants of Assam

People living in remote areas of the world, especially ethnic groups, practice traditional medicine as the first choice of disease treatment. Tribal communities of the Bodoland region of Assam use traditional medicines against various diseases. The present study investigated the antioxidant activities of Cassia fistula, Lindernia crustacea, Rauvolfia tetraphylla, Ricinus communis, Sacciolepis myosuroides and Zingiber zerumbet, which are medicinal plants traditionally consumed as deworming agents and their effects against amphistomes. Antioxidant activity was measured using the phosphomolybdate method, ferric reducing power, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assays. Amphistomes was treated with different doses of plant extracts in vitro to study their anthelmintic activity. The extracts of C. fistula, R. communis, and Z. zerumbet showed high antioxidant property. The plant extracts elicited a dose-dependent anthelmintic activity against amphistomes. Among the plants, C. fistula and L. crustacea showed the most potent anthelmintic property, comparable to reference drug albendazole. The study observed a positive correlation between the anthelmintic and antioxidant properties of the plants (P=0.05 level). The present study documents that the extracts of C. fistula and L. crustacea could be a potential source of anthelmintic agents. However, further study needs to be carried out to explore the anthelmintic activity of the plants.