Anthelmintic Activity of Acacia (<i>Samanea Saman</i>) Leaves Extract Against <i>Ascaris Lumbricoides</i>

Over the years, researchers have come up to the discovery of anthelmintic drugs, albendazole, which can eliminate the presence of a soil-transmitted worm named Ascaris lumbricoides in our body. However, reports of its reduced-efficacy and side effects have come to existence which leads to the detection of many researchers of the potential anthelmintic compounds of medicinal plants. Species of Acacia such as catechu and farnesiana, and nilotica and auriculiformis were reported to be effective against Pheritima postuma and Trichuris trichiura respectively. Samanea saman, acacia specie, is a medicinal plant that can be found locally. The tree has components such as tannins, saponin, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, and flavonoids in its different parts. The study therefore determined the components of the plant’s leaves extracted with ethanol and tested its anthelmintic activity against A. lumbricoides. This research can serve as a basis in the development of anthelmintic drugs as well as a new source for the upcoming studies. The testing was done at the Cagayan Valley Herbal Processing Plant utilizing an experimental design. The phytochemical screening revealed that S. saman’s leaf is positive in the constituents namely flavonoids, saponins, and tannins. Results of the anthelmintic activity reavealed that the S. saman leaves extract is effective in all of its concentration (50, 100, and 200 mg/mL). Furthermore, the one-way ANOVA also revealed that 50, 100, and 200 mg/mL of the S. saman leaves extract have no significant difference even when compared to the positive treatment 50 mg/mL albendazole. Therefore, the study reveals that using S. saman leaves extract leads to comparable anthelmintic activity with the drug albendazole.