J Basic Clin PharmJ Basic Clin PharmJBCPJournal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacy0976-01050976-0113Medknow Publications & Media Pvt LtdIndia252062534158893JBCP-1-41Original ArticlePhytochemical Screening and Toxicity Studies on the Leaves of Capparis sepiaria Linn. (Capparidaceae)RajeshP.1*LathaS.2SelvamaniP.2KannanV. Rajesh1Department of Microbiology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli-620024, Tamil Nadu, India.Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Anna University, Tiruchirappalli-620024, Tamil Nadu, India.Corresponding Author: E-mail: pandiyanrajesh@rocketmail.com122009December 2009-February 20101522010114146151201030120100522010Copyright: © Journal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacy2010This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Capparis sepiaria Linn. (Family: Capparidaceae) is a rare indigenous in South India but has widespread distribution in many tropical and sub-tropical countries. The present study intended with various phytochemical screening and toxicity studies were carried out on the leaves of the Capparis sepiaria. Preliminary phytochemical evaluation of the ethanolic extract of revealed that the presence of reducing sugar, flavonoids, steroids, tannins, glycosides, alkaloids, gums, resins, amino acids, proteins and anthraquinones. The toxicity studies were performed as acute, sub-acute and chronic toxicity determined the LD50 value of 300-5000 mg/kg body weight 4-6 weeks. The results of the various phytochemical tests indicated that the plant to be rich in various biologically active compounds which could serve as potential source of the crude drugs and in addition the plant is not toxic to the experimental model.

KEY WORDSCapparis sepiariaPhytochemical constituentsToxicity evaluations