title: Anthelmintic activity of a standardized extract from the rhizomes ofAcorus calamusLinn. (Acoraceae) against experimentally induced cestodiasis in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The rhizomes of a herbAcorus calamusLinn. (Acoraceae) have been widely used as a traditional medicine to cure intestinal-helminthic infections in India and South Africa.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was undertaken to investigate thein vivoanthelmintic activity of a standardized methanolic extract obtained from the rhizomesA. calamusin a rodent model.
  
  
  METHODS
  A methanolic extract obtained from rhizomes ofA. calamuswas characterized for active principle using nuclear magnetic resonance1H NMR,13C NMR, mass and infrared spectroscopy. The amount of active principle in rhizome isolated active fraction of plant was assayed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Later, the standardized rhizome extract of plant and its active principle were tested forin vivoanthelmintic efficacy against experimentally inducedHymenolepis diminuta, a zoonotic cestode, infections in rats.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study revealed that b-asarone is the active principle of plant. The HPLC analysis of local variety ofA. calamusrevealed that active fraction contains 83.54% (w/w) of b-asarone. Thein vivostudy revealed that treatment ofH. diminutainfected rats by a single 800 mg/kg dose of rhizome extract for 5 days results into 62.30% reduction in eggs per gram of feces counts and 83.25% reduction in worm counts of animals. These findings compared well with the efficacy of a reference drug, praziquantel. The active principle b-asarone showed slightly better anthelmintic effects than crude extract. In acute toxicity assay, a single oral 2000 mg/kg dose of extract did not reveal any signs of toxicity or mortality in mice, and the LD50 of the extract was noted to be >2000 mg/kg.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, the results of this study indicate that rhizomes ofA. calamusbear significant dose-dependent effects against intestinal helminths. Further, the Indian variety ofA. calamuscontains high b-asarone content. Therefore, there exists a great potential to develop some suitable anthelmintic herbal products from this plant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.
authors.forename: Purobi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nath
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.
authors.forename: Arun K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Yadav
keywords: Anthelmintic; Hymenolepis diminuta; intestinal helminthe; soil-transmitted helminths; traditional medicine