In vitro study of antiamoebic activity of methanol extract of fruit of Pimpinella anisum on trophozoites of Entamoeba histolytica HM1-IMSS

Abstract

The aniseed plant Pimpinella anisum (Saunf-Hindi) is one of the most ancient medicinal plants used by man. Currently, this plant has several uses in the food industry as spice, whereas in the pharmacopoeia, it is used as an expectorant in digestive disturbances, as mild diuretic, and as insect repellent in external use. In this paper, we evaluated the biological activity of methanolic extract of P. anisum on in vitro growth of Entamoeba histolytica HM1-IMSS under axenic conditions. We observed that the growth inhibition of E. histolytica was at CI₅₀ = 0.034 μg/mL. Results confirm the antiamoebic activity of the methanolic extract of P. anisum.

Keywords: Pimpinella anisum, Entamoeba histolytica, antiamoebic activity, medicinal plants

African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(16), pp. 2065-2068