Chemical, Biological & Pharmacological Investigations of Different Fractional Extracts of Passiflora edulis Sims. (Family: Passifloraceae)
Authors: Islam Shahidul , Dev Rupa 
Published: April 2022

In the evaluation of antimicrobial activity, antibacterial activity of ethanol, chloroform & n-hexane extracts of P. edulis was tested against 10 bacteria at concentrations of 500µg/disc. Standard antibiotic disc of Azithromycin (30 µg/disc) was used for the comparison. The extracts showed no activity against gm (+ve) & gm (-ve) bacteria at a concentration of 500 µg/disc. Antifungal activity of ethanol, chloroform & n-hexane extracts of P. edulis was tested against 7 fungi at concentrations of 500µg/disc. Standard antifungal disc of Fluconazole (30 µg/disc) was used for the comparison. In antifungal screening the chloroform extract showed activity against A. fumigatus (15nm). In DPPH scavenging assay the ethanol extract of leaves showed maximum % inhibition of 73.41% at 100μg/ml while the standard ascorbic acid showed % inhibition of 82.14% at the same concentration. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was increased by increasing the concentration of the sample extract. The extract exhibited considerable DPPH free radical scavenging activity as indicated by their IC50 values which indicate the potency of scavenging activity. Standard ascorbic acid was found to have an IC50 of 1.66μg/ml. In comparison to standard ascorbic acid, ethanol extract of P. edulis showed of an IC50 of 2.57μg/ml. In the evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity by albumin denaturation assay method, the percent inhibition of protein denaturation in the experiment of ethanol extract of leaves of P. edulis was found to be 55.454% at 500μg/ml, 49.818% at 250μg/ml and 41.818% at 125μg/ml. The extract possesses significant activity comparable with that of the standard acetyl salicylic acid which showed percent inhibition of protein denaturation of 91.945%, 88.181% and 45.454% in the same concentration range. In this analgesic activity study using Eddy’s hot plate method in mice, the ethanol extract of P. edulis showed mild analgesic activity. After 30 minutes of administration of standard drug (Diclofenac 9 mg/kg), mean latency was found to be 17.34sec. While the extract at concentration of 400 mg/kg exposed mean latency of 6.67sec. Respectively. During antipyretic activity by Brewer’s yeast induced pyrexia method in mice, the ethanol extract of leaves of P. edulis produced moderate antipyretic activity. In this test, the extract reduced temperature from 102.4°F to 99.84°F (p=0.151188), 98.74°F (p=0.070485), 98.6℉ (p=0.056108), 98.37℉ (p=0.039072) and 98.27°F (p=0.110528) in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th hour respectively and caused maximum reduction of temperature in 1st hour. During antidiarrhoeal activity by castor oil induced test in mice, the ethanol extract of P. edulis produced moderate antidiarrheal episode. The latent period and the total diarrheic faces were found to be 0.978 hr & 8.34 at 500 mg/kg for P. edulis as compared to standard (Loperamide 3mg/kg) 2.845 hr & 5.34. In the sedative and hypnotic activity by using open field box, hole cross box and swing Test method on swiss albino mice ethanol extract of P. edulis showed moderate sedative and hypnotic activity. During the open field test, squares crossed by the group receiving standard Diazepam and ethanol extract of leaves of P. edulis were 63 and 84.34 respectively. During the swing test, number of swings observed after administration of standard Diazepam and ethanol extract of leaves of P. edulis were 3.67 and 8.67 respectively. During diuretic activity by using the Lipschitz test in mice, ethanol, n-hexane and chloroform extracts of P. edulis (500mg/kg body wt.) showed no activity compared to standard drug Furosemide (20mg/kg body wt.)