Centella asiatica for evaluation of pharmacological activities : A potential medicinal herb

This study was conducted to investigate the antiemetic, antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of methanolic extracts of Centella asiatica. The antiemetic assay was carried out by using chick emetic model with minor modifications by calculating the mean decrease in the number of retching. The antimicrobial acivity of the crude extract was performed by Disc Diffusion method. The anti-radical activity was determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) method. Brine shrimp lethality bioassay is done to determine cytotoxic activity. The anti-emetic activity of Centella asiatica leaves on young chicks revealed that these extracts have a less anti-emetic effect. The group of chicks treated with Chlorpromazine was found to have 38.4 retches as compared to the 60.4 retches of the control group, thus Chlorpromazine reduced the retches by 36.96%. The chickens treated with leaves extracts inhibited the retches up to 15.67%. The manimum antimicrobial effect was found in this methanol crude extract. The extract did not appear potent in terms of both zones of inhibition and spectrum of activity.