Evaluation of Antihistaminic Activity in Moringa Oleifera Seeds: A Phytochemical and Pharmacological Investigation

In recent years, the herbal medicines have been extensively used in various diseases because of their safety profile. Helminthic infections are the most common infection in human beings affecting a large Proportion of the world's population. Anthelmintic drugs are the drugs. Which are used to kill or reduce the number of helminthic parasites in the intestinal tract or Tissues of the body. Moringa oleifera belonging to the moringaceae family is a highly valued Plant, distributed in many countries of the tropical and subtropical. The standard drugs such as piperazine citrate, albendazole mebendazole and thiabendazole possess some side effects Such as nausea, vomiting, stomach and abdominal pain, headache, dizziness, and temporary Hair loss etc. But the herbal drug shows fewer side effects. The plant which shows muscle Relaxant property may also shows antihelminthic activity. So we have selected Moringa Oleifera which is an herbal drug and shows muscle relaxant property. Hence the present study was undertaken for phytochemical evaluation and to test the antihelminthic activity of Methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera seed. Preliminary phytochemical investigation indicates the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, steroids, carbohydrates and tannins. Indian Adult earthworms (Pheretima posthuma) were used to study antihelminthic activity. Various concentrations of extracts were tested and results were expressed in terms of time for paralysis and time for death of worms. Albendezol(20mg/ml) was used as a reference standard and distilled water as a Control group [1].