Promising Pharmacological Activities of Ziziphus Herbal Extract and its Formulations

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to study the potential pharmacological activities of herbal extract of Ziziphus and its formulations. It is observed that the plant extracts of different species of Ziziphus have a variety of pharmacological activities. Due to antibiotic resistance, it is necessary to discover new sources of antibiotics. New technologies are used for the development of antimicrobial and antioxidant drugs with enhanced pharmacological activities. Also, scientists are concentrating on herbal medicines because of their numerous advantages over synthetic drugs. Now-a-days many of these herbal formulations, sold over the counter, are not properly standardized for quality and toxicity. In this research work the sub-chronic dermal toxicity study of Ziziphus oenoplia leaf extract containing Carbopol hydrogel formulation is evaluated on adult male Albino Wister rats. Here, the extract containing hydrogel in 3 doses, and 0.9% NaCl solution (negative control) has been applied on the shaved area of dorsolateral trunk of different groups of rats once a day for 28 days for the study. After conduction of the experiment, it has been observed that the control as well as the test groups of animals did not possess any mortality/ morbidity, clinical signs of toxicity or skin reactions such as edema or erythema. There has been no significant change in food consumption or any notable elevation in body weight in the animal groups throughout the experimental period. Thus, in this study the Ziziphus extract incorporated Carbopol hydrogel has been successfully evaluated for dermal toxicity which reveals that the formulation can be safely applied dermally for wound healing purpose.