Antimicrobial and analgesic activity of Amalakyadi churna and its ingredients

Abstract

Aim: The alcoholic extracts of Amalakyadi churna and its ingredients were evaluated for antimicrobial and analgesic activities. Introduction: It is one of the Ayurvedic formulations, used in traditional Indian system of medicine, practiced against certain general health disorders such as carminative, appetizer, purgative etc. It is a powdered mixture of equiproportions of fruits of Phyllanthus emblica L (Euphorbiaceae), Piper longum L (Piperaceae), Terminalia chebula Retz (Combretaceae), roots of Plumbago zeylanica L (Plumbaginaceae) and rock salt. Materials and Methods: In the present study Amalakyadi churna and its individual components were screened for preliminary phytochemical studies and also tested against certain clinical bacterial and fungal isolates (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus and A. flavus) invitro agar well diffusion method and analgesic activity in Swiss albino mice by invivo Tail flick method. Results: Based on the preliminary phytochemical studies, it has been noticed that presence of alkaloids, flavonoids in Piper longum, phenols, tannins in P emblica and T chebula. Where as, quinones and steroids in P zeylanica. Amalakyadi churna and its ingredients exhibited promising antimicrobial activities, where as A. churna extract has shown to possess moderate analgesic activity. Conclusion: Obviously Amalakyadi churna is a mixed preparation of all these phytoconstituents of four different plant ingredients and rock salt, perhaps the combined effect of all these chemical groups might have synergistically exhibited the broad spectrum of antimicrobial and moderate analgesic activities. These principle constituents might be responsible for the folk use of this formulation.