Preliminary phytochemical analysis of traditionally used medicinal plant Anthocephalus cadamba

Nishat Fatima^1,2_, Zulfiqar Ali^2,  Jamal Akhtar Ansari^1,2_, Homa Jilani Khan^1,2_, Mohammad Kaleem Ahmad¹_, Abdul Rehman Khan²_, Abbas Ali Mahdi¹

¹ King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, India - 226 003

² Integral University, Lucknow, India - 226 026

Email: nishatfatimalko@gmail.com

Abstract:

In spite of the recent domination of the synthetic chemistry as a method of discover and produce drugs, the potential of the bioactive plants or their extracts to provide new and novel products for disease  treatment  and  prevention  is  still  enormous¹.  Anthocephalus  cadamba  Roxb.  (Syn: Neolamarckia cadamba, Anthocephalus indicus; Family: Rubiaceae), commonly known as Kadamba, a traditional medicinal plant is used in fever, anemia, uterine complaints, blood diseases, skin diseases, leprosy, dysentery, diabetes mellitus, diarrhoea, inflammation, haemoptysis, cough, vomiting, wounds, ulcers, haematological and dermatological problems, gastrointestinal disorders and for improvement of semen². However, significant research has not been done for their phytochemical investigation to cure the challenging and complex disease like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s etc. Literature reveals about its anticancerous activity viz., cytotoxicity on EAC cell line, against Carragreenan induced granuloma in rats. However, much work has not been done on this. In view of above studies we conducted this study to investigate phytochemical properties of Anthocephalus cadamba for isolation and identification of its active phytochemicals. It was seen that it have indole, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, reducing sugar, sapogenins terpenes and steroids. Further isolation and identification of bioactive leads are under process.

Keywords: Anthocephalus cadamba, natural product, phytochemicals, anticancerous activity.

References:

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2.   Kumar V, Khan MM, Khanna AK, Singh R, Singh S, Chander R, et al. Lipid lowering activity of Anthocephalus indicus root in hyperlipidemic rats. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2010; 7:317–22.