Evaluation of Memory Enhancing Potential of Dendrocalamus Strictus Leaf Extracts on Suitable Animal Model

Medicinal plants have always been the principle sources of medicine worldwide. India sustains a very rich traditional medicinal plant wealth and inherits unique plant and animal communities. Present study enumerates the phytochemical screening followed by antioxidant and memory enhancing evaluation of aqueous and methanolic extract of Dendrocalamus strictus (DS) leaves. Freshly collected and authenticated leaves were studied for its morphological and pharmacognostic character followed by physical and phytochemical evaluation. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, carbohydrates, steroids and flavonoids in both the extracts. Physical parameters like solubility, ash values, LOD, extractive value etc. has been studied. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was done by using DPPH method. The results showed that aqueous extract at 100μg/ml concentration and methanolic extract at 150μg/ml concentration showed the significant antioxidant effect as compared with ascorbic acid as standard. The In-Vivo memory enhancing activity of DS leaf extracts was evaluated by radial arm maze model in rats using Piracetam as a standard. Both the extracts at 200mg/kg concn showed significant to highly significant increase in number of entries & time spent in P zone (from P < 0.05 to P < 0.001). The result suggested that DS leaf extracts possess memory enhancing activity and this might be due to flavonoids, Phenolic compounds, Steroids present in extracts.