Preliminary pharmacological evaluation of Alocasia indica Schott tuber

To elucidate potential antioxidant, antidiarrheal, cytotoxic, and antibacterial activities of the ethanol extract of A/ocasia indica Schott tuber in different experimental models established in vitro and in vivo. METHODS： In vitro antioxidant activity was evaluated by 2, 2-diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl （DPPH） radical-scavenging assay. Phenolic content was estimated by using Folin-Ciocalteu＇s reagent while reducing ability was measured by ferric reducing power assay./n vivo antidiarrheal studies were carried out in mice, and the activity was evaluated in castor oil and magnesium sulfate- induced diarrhea. Disk diffusion assay was utilized to determine antibacterial activity against a number of pathogenic bacterial strains. Acute toxicity test was carried out to measure the safe doses for the extract. RESULTS： In DPPH radical-scavenging assay, the extract exhibited strong radical-scavenging activity with the 50% inhibitory concentration value of 42.66 IJg/mL. Total phenolic content was found to be 542.26 mg gallic acid equivalent per 100 g of dried tuber extract, whereas flavonoid content was found to be 4.30 mg quercetin equivalent/g of dried tuber extract. In reducing power assay, the extract showed strong reducing power in a concentration-dependent manner. The extract significantly （P 〈 0.01） enhanced the latent period and decreased defecation in both castor oil- and magnesium sulfate-induced diarrhea. The extract also lessened gastrointestinal motility in mice. Potential antibacterial activity was exhibited by the extract against all the tested bacterial strains in disk diffusion assay. The 50% lethal concentration against brine shrimp nauplii was 81.09 μg/mL. CONCLUSION： The results demonstrated that the ethanol extract of A. inc/ica has potential antioxidant, antidiarrheal, cytotoxic, and antibacterial activity.