Abstract
Ayurveda, An Indian system of medicine has described several drugs from indigenous plant sources for use in the treatment of bronchial asthma and allergic disorders. Traditionally Fagonia schweinfurthii Hadidi (Family- Zygophylaceae) is used for allergies and other skin diseases. The current study evaluates the anti-histaminic activity of aqueous extract of F. schweinfurthii Hadidi and then anti-histaminic formulation (syrup) was prepared and evaluated for various parameters. Plant Fagonia schweinfurthii Hadidi was collected from local area. Aqueous extract was obtained by extraction of moderately coarse powder of F. schweinfurthii Hadidi was carried out by decoction method with water and dried. Anti-histaminic activity of plant extract was evaluated by using Guinea pig ileum and for the comparison of anti-histaminic activity ceterizine (10 mg) was used as model drug. In the present study it was found that aqueous extract of F. schweinfurthii Hadidi showed significant anti-histaminic activity. The outcomes of study showed that 16% and 18.8% inhibition in maximum response produced by histamine was observed for plant extract (1000 μg/ml) and standard drug (50 μg/ml) respectively when 5 μg/ml dose of histamine was used. From this study 2 g dose was selected for the preparation of syrup. The results indicate that aqueous extract of F. schweinfurthii Hadidi has significant anti-histaminic activity and syrup which contains 2 g of extract has similar anti-histaminic activity to marketed preparation.
Keywords: Aqueous extract, concentration response curve, fagonia.