Background: Parasitic infections have become a serious threat to the lives of human beings and animals and helminthiasis is the major parasitic infection. A wide range of anthelmintic agents have been used to treat these parasitic infections. Synthetic anthelmintic has various limitations like resistance. So, the major practical way of developing efficacious and cheaper anthelmintics is to consider herbal plants. Materials and Methods: The three plants selected in the study are Citrus medica, Coleus aromaticus and Murraya koenigii, belonging to the family Rutaceae, Lamiaceae and Rutaceae respectively. Traditionally, all these plants are used as vermicides. The main goal of the study was to examine the anthelmintic activity of these three plants using earthworms (Pheretima posthuma). 50% Hydroethanolic extracts of the three plants at different concentrations (20, 50, 80 mg/ml) showed dose-dependent anthelmintic response. Results: At concentrations of 20, 50, 80 mg/ml, all three plant extracts caused paralysis at 16.4, 28.33, 28.17, 11.35, 23.17, 22.4, 9.1, 19.33, 19.21 min. and death at 60.1, 84.56, 40.06, 46.08, 67.06, 37.42, 25.54, 56.56, 29.35 min. respectively. Albendazole was used as a reference standard at three different concentrations 20, 50, 80 mg/ml and caused paralysis at 40.37, 36.12, 24.44 min and death at 50.1, 39, 30.49 min. Conclusion: After analysing results, it was concluded that the three plants possess effective anthelmintic activity when compared with standard drug Albendazole and Citrus medica was found to be much more effective than all.
Keywords: Citrus medica, Coleus aromaticus, Murraya koenigii, Anthelmintic activity, Albendazole.
