Shahid Rasool1,2 
,
Farrukh Zia Khan1,
Saeed ul Hassan1,
Mobasher Ahmed1,
Mansoor Ahmed3,
Rasool Bakhsh Tareen4
For correspondence:- Shahid Rasool Email: shahid_rph@hotmail.com Tel:+23004799126
Received: 20 June 2015 Accepted: 2 October 2015 Published: 29 November 2015
Citation: Rasool S, Khan FZ, Hassan Su, Ahmed M, Ahmed M, Tareen RB. Anticonvulsant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of Berberis calliobotrys Aitch ex Koehne (Berberidaceae). Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(11):2031-2039 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i10.12
© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Purpose: To evaluate the anticonvulsant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of Berberis calliobotrys.
Methods: The powdered plant material (10 kg) was extracted thrice with methanol (3 × 12 L) by dipping for seven days. The methanol extract was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure, and then successively fractionated with solvents of different polarity, including n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The anticonvulsant effect of the extract and fractions (at oral doses 500 and 1000 mg/kg) was studied against picrotoxin-, pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)- and strychnine-induced seizures in Swiss albino mice of either sex divided into 12 groups (n = 6). Diazepam was used as standard drug. Antimicrobial activity of the extract against Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus as well as against Candida albicans, Penicillium notatum was conducted by disc diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Cytotoxicity of the extract/fractions was analyzed by haemolytic method while the phenolic compounds present in the ethyl acetate fraction of the plant were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Results: The extract and its ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions showed maximum response against drug-induced convulsions and provided 100 % protection to animals at both doses. They also showed zones of inhibition of 27.00 ± 2.51, and 22.00 ± 2.51 mm against all bacterial and fungal strains, respectively, especially Staphylococcus aureus. The methanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction also showed high MIC against all bacterial and fungal strains. Cytotoxicity data from hemolytic assay indicate that the extract/fractions are safe. The highest amount of phenolic found was chlorogenic acid (84.44 ± 0.06 ppm).
Conclusion: The plant is thus a potential source of new lead compounds for the development of new clinically effective anticonvulsant and antimicrobial compounds.
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