A Quest for Potent Plant Based Thrombolytics

Shalini H Kumar* and Pushpa.A
Department of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, India

Abstract
To combat the shortcomings of the commercially available thrombolytic agents, thirteen different plant extracts namely leaves and fruits of Phyllanthus emblica, seeds of Sesamum indicum and Brassica juncea, leaves of Commiphora molmol, water and endosperm of Cocos nucifera, leaves and pulp of Carica papaya, aril and rind of Punica granatum and pulp of Ananas comosus were screened for thrombolytic activity in terms of in vitro clot lysis. Punica granatum exerted a higher thrombolytic activity and accordingly it was chosen for further studies. Streptokinase was used as a positive control and water was used as a negative control. The minimum effective concentration for thrombolysis of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of aril and rind of Punica granatum were analysed. The cytotoxic property was assessed by lethality assay using Artemia salina and total flavonoid and phenolic content were also determined. It was found that Punica granatum had high phenolic and flavonoid content which could be endorsed for the significant thrombolytic activity.
Keywords: Punica granatum, thrombolysis, total phenol, cytotoxic