In vitro Antihemolytic Activity of Gymnema Sylvestre Extracts Against Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) Induced Haemolysis in Human Erythrocytes

Gymnema sylvestre (Asclepiadaceae) is a good source of large number of bioactive substances. It has deep roots in history, being one of the major botanicals used in traditional medicine to treat conditions ranging from diabetes, malaria, to snakebites. This study was conducted to quantitatively evaluate anti-haemolytic activity of aqueous extract of stem, leaf and flower parts of this plant, against hydrogen peroxide induced haemolysis using human erythrocyte in an in vitro assay. Prior to the addition of H2O2 to induce haemolysis, different concentrations (50-500 mg/ml) of the extract was added to 2ml of 4% erythrocyte suspension and allowed to incubate for 5 minutes at room temperature. The mixture was centrifuged and the colour density of the supernatant was measured spectrophotometrically. Quercetin was used as standard. The percentage haemolysis and IC50 values were calculated. The extracts were potent against haemolysis of the erythrocyte in concentration dependent manner. The leaf extract exhibited the highest antihaemolytic effect with IC50 = 29.83 mg/ml followed by the flower with IC50 = 34.96 mg/ml and the least was the stem with IC50 = 37.75 mg/ml. the IC50 value of Quercetin was 386.72 mg/ml. The lower the IC50 the more protection offered against haemolysis by the extracts. These results suggest that the plant extracts are better anti-haemolytic agents and offered significant biological action compared with standard compound used.

Author(s): Omale James and Idris Mordecai Alewo

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