From Tradition to Therapy: Exploring the Pharmacological Potential of Centella asiatica L.

Abstract

Medicinal plants are the great assest of drugs. There is a need to explore more medicinal plants and check their pharmacological efficacy. The present was intented to investigate the pharmacological activity of Centella asiatica L. that has been checked qualitatively. The plant was collected from GCU, botanical garden then it was dried, grinded and the crude extracts were being prepared through maceration method in different solvents i.e. petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and distilled water. Later on, different pharmacological tests were performed. Overall, the plant is very active for the production of secondary metabolites as alkaloids, Tannins etc. hence possess the strong defense system. The plant showed positive results for alkaloids, saponins, tannins, phlobatannins, cardiac glycosides and flavonoids by producing characteristic precipitates, froth or ring productions. Whereas in some cases, it showed negative results for terpenoids, coumarins and anthraquinones. Moreover, the total antioxidant assay was also performed in which aqueous extract of all the plant parts showed very much comparable results with the available standards i.e. BHT and alpha tocopherol.