Preliminary phytochemical study of petiveria aliacea

Abstract

Traditional medicine has found in some plants, alternatives for the treatment of some health conditions, Petiveria alliacea is a highly commercialized plant for the properties attributed to it, therefore it is important to know the toxicity levels of the most consumed parts of the plant as the root and leaves, which can be evaluated by pharmacological parameters established as the CL50, where bioassays are developed using model organisms such as Artemia Salina, also for the contribution to knowledge of the active principles found in the plant, it is essential to develop recognition reactions. For this purpose, an ethanolic extract was obtained from both the root and the leaves in order to compare the toxicity present in these parts. The tests carried out on the plant were based on the concentrated ethanolic extract where the LC50 was determined at 2.5 mg/ ml, for the ethanolic extract of the root and leaves, there were no significant differences, but this classifies the plant as toxic. The recognition reactions performed detected the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids and carboxylic acids. The sensitivity of Artemia salina to ethanolic extracts proved to be high. This study evaluated the toxicity of the plant and the detection of its active principles, which could contribute to understand the risks and benefits of the use of the plant in traditional medicine.