Biological Investigation of Fruit of Spondias pinnata (Anacardiaceae)

Abstract

Spondias pinnata belonging to the Anacardiaceae family has been investigated for the evaluation of biological activities of the crude extract with especial emphasis to the antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity and thrombolytic activity. The powdered fruit of S. pinnata was extracted with 96% ethanol. The concentrated crude ethanolic extract of S. pinnata was then evaluated for antioxidant activity. The crude ethanolic extract of S. pinnata exhibited significant antioxidant activity with the IC50 value 1.91μg/ml. The mean phenolic content found in the crude ethanolic extract of S. pinnata (fruit) was 659.74±3.58 mg of gallic acid (GAE) per gm of dried extract. Reducing power assay of the crude ethanolic extract of S. pinnata (fruit) revealed that the EC50 value of the crude extract was 6.39 μg/ml. The mean flavonoids content found in the crude ethanolic extract of S. pinnata (fruit) was 225.60±1.20 mg of quercetin per gm of dried extract. The mean antioxidant capacity found in crude ethanolic extract of S. pinnata (fruit) was 25.52±0.17 gm of Ascorbic acid per gram of dried extract. The concentrated crude ethanolic extract of S. pinnata (fruit) was also subjected to microbiological investigation by the disc diffusion method. The crude extract of S. pinnata showed mild to moderate antimicrobial activity. The chloroform soluble fraction is moderately active against Sarcina lutea, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella boydii, Salmonella paratyphi and Salmonella typhi with the diameter of zone of inhibition of (12 mm for 400 μg/disc, 16 mm for 800 μg/disc) , (10 mm for 400 μg/disc, 15 mm for 800 μg/disc), (12 mm for 400 μg/disc, 15 mm for 800 μg/disc), (10 mm for 400 μg/disc, 15 mm for 800 μg/disc), and (9 mm for 400 μg/disc, 13 mm for 800 μg/disc) respectively.

Besides the MIC for S. aureus, S.typhi, S.paratyphi, B.subtilis, and S.boydii was 0.078125 mg/ml and the lowest MBC was found against S. typhi (0.3125mg/ml). In the in vitro thrombolytic assay, the average percentage of clot lysis by crude ethanolic extract of Spondias pinnata (fruit) were 25.23 ± 0.51 for volunteer 1 and 25.37 ± 0.03 for volunteer 2. In contrast, the average clot lysis by streptokinase in volunteer 1 and volunteer 2 was 50.21 and 49.80 respectively.