Coscinium fenestratum

The Plant Coscinium fenestratum belonging to the family stercularaceae contains alkaloids as the chief constituent. In the present study an attempt was made to isolate alkaloids from the extract showing the significant antityphoid activity. The plant was collected from the region of Kerala and was authentified by Department of Botany in Kerala University. The whole plant was air dried and ground into fine powders and subjected for successive extraction using petroleum ether, chloroform, butanol, ethanol, methanol and water. In the present investigation, the successive extracts were tested for anti typhoid activity against Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi A and Salmonella paratyphi B organism in comparison with standard antibiotic ciprofloxacin using dimethyl formamide as blank. The extracts were dissolved in dimethyl formamide and inoculated in the agar nutrient media. The zone of inhibition was studied in triplicate analysis to evaluate the antityphoid activity. The zone of inhibition observed with ciprofloxacin was 36+0.2mm (S. typhi), 39+0.5mm (S. Paratyphi A) and 42+0.3mm (S. Paratyphi B). The chloroform extract showed 28+0.3mm (S. typhi), 32+0.2mm (S. Paratyphi A) and 35+0.5mm (S. Paratyphi B). This revealed the antityphoid activity of Coscinium fenestratum.