POTENT AMEBICIDES FROM PLANT-EXTRACTS - AN IN-VITRO ASSESSMENT WITH THE GUM-OLEO-RESIN OF COMMIPHORA-WIGHTII

The medicinal value of Commiphora wightii has been believed by tribals to be mainly due to its yield of guggulipid, which has been scientifi cally shown to have hypochloesteromic, anti-septic, anti-pathogenic, a nti-parasitic properties, It is also used for nonspecific diarrhoea an d dysentery, Amoebic dysentery is a common disorder of a large number of people in the tropics, In our studies we have reviewed the active p rinciples of most known anti-amoebic plants, Further, we have tested t he crude extracts of oleogum-resin obtained from C. wightii against E, histolytica NIH 200 using microdilution technique, They were found to be comparable with quassinoids; Ailanthinone and Bruceantin, The need for linkages bet uc een chemical characterization with established in vitro techniques Is demonstrated.