Phytochemical and pharmacological screening of Zingiber salarkhanii Rahman et Yusuf roots growing in Bangladesh

Abstract

The ginger family (Zingiberaceae), one of the most versatile medicinal plants, is also a popular flavoring component in a variety of foods and drinks. The objective of the current study is to examine the phytochemistry and evaluate the biological effects of methanolic extracts from a unique ginger family plant (Zingiber salarkhanii Rahman et Yusuf). The analgesic (acetic acid-induced writhing method), CNS anxiolytic (Hole-cross method), cytotoxic (brine shrimp lethality method), and antioxidant (DPPH scavenging method) effects of the plant extract were studied. Then the data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test using SPSS (version 20). The result obtained assures that Z. salarkhanii root extract has a variety of active compounds and showed significant analgesic (58%) and CNS anxiolytic activity (22.7 ± 2.22), as well as this plant, exhibited strong cytotoxic (LC₅₀ = 0.784 µg/ml) and free radical scavenging activity (IC₅₀ = 1.322 µg/ml).

Keywords: Phytochemical screening, analgesic, anxiolytic, antioxidant, cytotoxic activities.

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