Evaluation of Analgesic, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities of methanolic extract of Litsea glutinosa bark from Chuadanga, Bangladesh

From the ancient time plants have been used to treat several ailments and act as a source of bioactive potential compounds in recent time. Nowadays it is important to search for bioactive phytochemicals because of emerging of new lethal diseases such as cancers and Covid-19 and development of antibiotic resistance. In this study, we selected bark of Litsea glutinosa for exploring its medicinal values. The methanolic extract from L. glutinosa bark was subjected to phytochemical screening, and in-vitro and in-vivo pharmacological assays. It was found that the crude methanolic extract contains several classes of compounds in higher concertation including tannin, flavonoids, and phenols. The methanolic extract was employed for testing analgesic, antimicrobial, and anti-oxidant by standard reported methods. This plant crude extracts showed 60.38% inhibition of acetic acid induced writhing and 68.09% increase in elongation of latency time during tail flick test in mice. In case of antioxidant assay, the plant extract exhibited free radical scavenging activities with IC50 value 91.15 mg/ml. Moreover, the methanolic extract of L. glutinosa bark showed moderate antibacterial activity against only B. subtilis. This study suggests that L. glutinosa has strong central and peripheral analgesic, and anti-oxidant activity, and moderate antibacterial activity. This study also suggests that potent analgesic and anti-oxidant activity of L. glutinosa might be due to the presence of bioactive phenolic, flavonoid and tannin compounds. Interestingly, this study might support this plant's traditional uses. Future investigation is needed to explore the others medicinal activities and isolation of bioactive compounds.