A Valid Appraisement of Pharmacognostical, Phytochemical and Pharmacological Exploration of Couroupita Guianensis Abul (Lecythidaceae)

The present investigation highlights the pharmacognostical, phytochemical and pharmacological studies of the leaves of Couroupita guianensis belonging to the family Lecythidaceae is a soft-wooded, deciduous tropical tree of the Brazil nut family. Ethnomedical information revealed that it was used in various ailments including stomach aches, skin diseases, malaria, toothache, allergies, ulcers, hypertension, tumor, pain and inflammation etc. The morphological evaluation showed the adherence of general characters to the family. Detailed microscopical characters of the leaves showed the usual leaf characters, single layered epidermis with thin cuticle and few trichomes, single layered lamina covered with thin cuticle. Closed, collateral vascular bundles are encircled with pericycle; few prismatic, cluster and rosette crystals are scattered throughout ground tissue. Powder microscopy, microscopic schedules, vein islet and vein termination number, stomatal number and stomatal index, palisade ratio and physicochemical parameters such as ash values, extractive values, and loss on drying were determined and presented. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, sterols, flavonoids, proteins, aminoacids, terpenoid, triterpenoids, tannins, and the absence of, gum, mucilage, saponins, fixed oil and fats and coumarins. Total flavonoids, total phenolic and total tannin contents were determined for this extract which were found to be 44.69 mg/g, 58.77 mg/g and 65 mg/g respectively. TLC and HPTLC profile of the hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves of C.guianensis were presented and the presence of quercetin was confirmed. The acute oral toxicity studies for hydroalcoholic extract of Couroupita guianensis leaves was carried out as per the OECD 423 guidelines. The study revealed that upto 2000mg/kg body weight HAECGL was found to be safe to animals. Hence the experimental dosage was fixed as 125 mg/Kg and 250 mg/Kg of body weight. Toxicity assessment of hydroalcoholic extract of Couroupita guianensis leaves was carried out using zebrsfish embryo model and the LC50 value was found to be 205.11 mg/l. The study revealed that the HAECGL produce 0% toxicity for zebrafish larvae up to the concentration 25μg/ml. The current work provides considerable evidence that HAECGL inhibited PTZ-induced epilepsy and associated clinical symptoms. The behavioral, biochemical and histological findings of this study supported the argument that HAECGL has antioxidant and anti-epileptic properties in mice model of epilepsy. The antiepileptic potential of HAECGL was achieved via modulation of oxidative stress, increasing the antioxidant levels, modifying the pro-inflammatory cytokinins level, affecting the various aminoacids level and inhibiting the neuronal abnormalities in brain tissue. Furthermore, more in-depth investigations are needed to elucidate the detailed mechanism of HAECGL in PTZ-induced seizures. The anticonvulsant potential of HAECGL may be due to presence of quercetin and other phyto pharmaceuticals like α-amyrin, β-amyrin, β-sitosterol etc exist in the extract. Quercetin was found to possess protective effect on neurons (Dorota Nieoczym et al., 2014). Quercetin may also modulates GABAA receptors and also acts as NMDA receptor antagonist that responsible for antiepileptic activity. Isolation of the active principles such as quercetin, α-amyrin, β-amyrin and β-sitosterol and these phytoconstituents may be evaluated for various models for antiepileptic activity. They may be formulated for novel drug formulation for better efficacy of drug molecules. Transdermal patches of these phytoconstituents may be formulated for better patient compliance and also improve therapeutic efficacy of these medicaments