Pharmacological profile of the aerial parts of Rubus ulmifolius Schott

BACKGROUND: As aerial parts of Rubus ulmifolius contains phytochemicals like flavonoids and tannins. And whereas flavonoids and tannins have antioxidant and antipyretic activity, hence, current work is carried out to screen crude methanolic extract of aerial parts of Rubus ulmifolius (Ru.Cr) and crude flavonoids rich extract of Rubus ulmifolius (Ru.F) for possible antioxidant and antipyretic activity. Ru.Cr and Ru.F are also tested for brine shrimps lethality bioassay. Ru.F is tested for the first time for possible antioxidant and antipyretic activity. METHODS: Preliminary phytochemical screening of Ru.Cr and Ru.F was performed as it provides rapid finger printing for targeting a pharmacological activity. Acute toxicity and Brine shrimps’ cytotoxicity studies of Ru.Cr and Ru.F were performed to determine its safe dose range. Antioxidant and antipyretic studies were also performed as per reported procedures. RESULTS: Ru.Cr tested positive for presence of tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids and steroids. Ru.Cr is safe up to 6 g/kg following oral doses for acute toxicity study. Ru.Cr is safe up to 75 μg/kg (p.o), LC(50) for Ru.Cr and Ru.F are 16.7 ± 1.4 μg/ml 10.6 ± 1.8 μg/ml, respectively (n = 3). Both Ru.Cr and Ru.F demonstrated comparable antioxidant activity using vitamin C as standard (p ≤ 0.05). In test dose of 300 mg of Ru.Cr, rectal temperature was reduced by 74% (p ≤ 0.05) on 4(th) hour of the administration. More, Ru.F produced 72% reduction in pyrexia (p ≤ 0.05) on 4(th) hour of administration of paracetamol in Westar rats. CONCLUSIONS: The current work confirms that aerial parts of Rubus ulmifolius contain flavonoids that are safe up to 6 g/kg (p.o). Crude methanolic extract and flavonoids rich fraction of Rubus ulmifolius have significant antioxidant and antipyretic activity. Further work is required to isolate the pharmacologically active substances for relatively safe and effective antipyretics and antioxidants.