In vitro anthelmintic activity of Indian Boerhavia erecta Linn against Indian Earthworm

Helminthiases are the most infectious parasitic and zoonotic diseases all over the world. Traditionally, Boerhavia erecta Linn (Erect spiderling) is used for the treatment of asthma, jaundice, diarrhoea, rheumatism, scabies, conjunctivitis and convulsion in children and adults. By Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectroscopy (GCMS) analysis, the dried ethanolic extract of Indian Boerhavia erecta L. (IBE) was identified with the presence of 12 different therapeutic principles such as tetraborane, acetic acid, neophytadiene, tetramethyl-2-hexadecen-1-ol, nhexadecenoic acid, octadecatrienoic acid, salicyl alcohol, tetracosane, hexasiloxane, nonacosane, eicosane and tetracontane. Those phytochemicals are said to own the mechanism of redox system inhibition and cell membrane disruption due to its structural organisation for the effective vermicidal strategy. The in vitro antimotility assay of dried extract of IBE in five different concentrations such as T1 - 10mg/ml, T2 - 20mg/ml, T3 - 50mg/ml, T4 - 80mg/ml and T5 - 100 mg/ml unveiled the dose dependent anthelmintic against Pheretima posthuma using distilled water as control (C) and piperazine citrate as standard (S). The average time of paralysis (P) and the time of death (D) of Pheretima posthuma for T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and S in P(D) [(mean ± SEM), P