Anticestodal property of Strobilanthes discolor: an experimental study in Hymenolepis diminuta--rat model.

Use of Strobilanthes discolor T. Anders leaves in the treatment of intestinal worm infections is a common ethnobotanical practice in the Naga tribes of north-eastern part of India. In the present communication the anticestodal efficacy of Strobilanthes discolor leaf extract was investigated using Hymenolepis diminuta-rat experimental model. The effects of leaf extract were adjudged by monitoring the eggs per gram of faeces (EPG) counts and percentage worm recovery rates following treatment with methanol leaf extract of this plant to different groups of rats harbouring Hymenolepis diminuta infections. The leaf extract showed significant reductions in EPG counts as well as in recovery of surviving worms at autopsy. A notable result of the extract's efficacy was observed against the larval stages of parasite, where no single worm was recovered at its 800 mg/kg dose administered twice daily for 3 days. Effects of plant extract on adult stages were almost comparable with that of a standard drug, Praziquantel. The study suggests that the leaf extract of Strobilanthes discolor possesses significant anticestodal activity and supports its use in the folk medicine.