Anti-venom potential of Vitex negundo extract against Indian cobra venom

<p>Kadudula Prasuna</p>

Anti-venom potential of Vitex negundo extract against Indian cobra venom

Kadudula Prasuna

Kakatiya University, India

: J Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol

Abstract

Snake bite is one of the major health hazards that leads to a high mortality rate, especially in India. The four major ubiquitous species of venomous snakes in India, known as “big four” are considered responsible for life-threatening envenomation around the country. Many Indian medicinal plant materials are recommended for the treatment of snake bite and some are tested, but so far no systematic analysis has been done. Therefore based on the ethnomedicinal data, the Vitex negundo plant extract was selected to test the anti-venom potential activity for this study. The collected roots of Vitex negundo were shade dried and powdered and extracted by maceration method using methanol. The venom of Indian Cobra was obtained from the snake catchers of Warangal district. Snake venom toxic enzyme inhibition studies were carried out on following Enzymes: Protease, Phosphomonoesterase, Phosphodiesterase, L Amino acid Oxidase, Acetylcholinesterase, Hyaluronidase, and Phospholipase A2. The methanolic extracts of roots of Vitex negundo displayed a significant inhibitory effect on tested enzyme activities of venom. Thus the present finding reveals that methanolic extract of Vitex negundo root possesses compound(s), which inhibit the activity of cobra venom.