Phytochemical screening and in vitro anti-inflammatory properties of Jatropha maheshwarii Subram. & Nayar – An endemic plant

The present study was aimed at examining the anti-inflammatory activity of the crude extracts obtained from an endemic plant, Jatropha maheshwarii through employing different assays. The ethanol extract of J. maheshwarii, at a concentration of 500 µg/ml, exhibited a membrane stabilizing effect (78.21 %) on human red blood cells. As regards proteinase inhibitory activity, the ethanol extract showed the higher activity (80.32 %) and the lower by aqueous extract (79.61 %) at a concentration of 500 µg/ml. The protein denaturation inhibition assay showed the higher activity for ethanol (78.26 %) and the lower by aqueous (75.73 %) extracts at a concentration of 500 µg/ml. The anti-inflammatory activity of the plant extracts can be reasoned to the bioactive principles of the plant. On this basis, the phytoconstituents were assayed using preliminary qualitative screening and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry analyses; phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, sterols, tannins and cardiac glycosides were detected in the crude extracts. Twenty-two bioactive compounds were identified in the ethanol and aqueous extracts that includes13-docosenamide, (Z)- ((Z)-docos-13-enamide) (15.65 %), 4-propylbenzaldehyde (15.20 %), dibutyl phthalate (dibutyl benzene-1, 2-dicarboxylate) (15.10 %), behenic alcohol (Docosan-1-ol) (14.48 %), gamma-sitosterol (14.45 %), cetyl alcohol (Hexadecane-1-ol) (13.62 %), Tetradecyl trifluoroacetate (Tetradecyl 2, 2, 2-Trifluoroacetate) (11.49 %) and1-pentadecene (Pentadic-1-ene) (11.24 %).